onne describes death as freedom, pleasure, and "delivery" (8). Despite these essential similarities, their perspectives on Time and Death differ. Donne is highly critical and demeaning of death, going so far as to say it is a scavenger that will die in the afterlife. Herbert, on the other hand, describes time as a gardener nurturing us, and helping us to grow into eternal peace. There are other differences as well. In Donne’s poem, Death never gets a chance to respond, making it seem helpless against Donne’s attacks. In Herbert, Time responds by pointing out man’s delusional shortcomings. Also, in Donne, Death is a static thing, a slave to those same factors which affect us as well. Herbert’s Time is dynamic; it has changed from executioner to usher due to the fact that Christ gave us the option of salvation. Basically, Donne hates Death for what it has become while Herbert loves Time for what it has become. Therein lies the root difference between Donne and Herbert as shown here – Donne is active, aggressive, challenging and hateful while Herbert is passive, accepting, and longing. Finally, it should be noted that Herbert explicitly awaits death with anticipation while Donne never really expresses that desire at all. Both George Herbert and John Donne discuss the relationship between death and humankind. They both see death as a passage to eternal life; however, their personifications of death in Death and Time are taken from opposing points of view – one a criticism and a challenge, one a compliment and an acceptance. Donne’s poem is a fairly simple decry against death as a mighty killer, while Herbert’s vision of death and humankind is more complex, with death itself being dynamic and humankind being deluded as to death’s true role. Although these two poems come from two different perspectives, they do agree on a central theme; death is not an event to be feared, but one to rejoic...
