<P> Sonnet X , also known by its opening words as `` Death Be Not Proud '' , is a fourteen - line poem , or sonnet , by English poet John Donne ( 1572 -- 1631 ) , one of the leading figures in the metaphysical poets of seventeenth - century English literature . Written between February and August 1609 , it was not published during Donne 's lifetime ; it was first published posthumously in 1633 . </P>
<P> Sonnet X , also known by its opening words as `` Death Be Not Proud '' , is a fourteen - line poem , or sonnet , by English poet John Donne ( 1572 -- 1631 ) , one of the leading figures in the metaphysical poets of seventeenth - century English literature . Written between February and August 1609 , it was not published during Donne 's lifetime ; it was first published posthumously in 1633 . </P>
who wrote the poem death be not proud
who wrote the poem death be not proud
English poet John Donne
English poet John Donne