Why swellst thou then

In this two-paragraph meditation, Donne meditates upon the sounding of a church bell signifying a funeral and connects it to his own present illness. He wonders if the person is aware that the bell has sounded for him. Obviously, if someone is dead, he does not know and it is too late for him to meditate upon it.

The most prominent theme of Holy Sonnet 10 is that one should not fear death. What is the bell referred to in the opening lines? What does it signal? When the bell is rung by Lady Macbeth, it is a signal telling Macbeth that the chamberlains are in a drunken stupor, but it also is summoning King Duncan to his grave.

If a man carry treasure in bullion, or in a wedge of gold, and have none coined into current money, his treasure will not defray him as he travels. Tribulation is treasure in the nature of it, but it is not current money in the use of it, except we get nearer and nearer our home, heaven, by it.

Why do you think Donne refers to irregular events on earth and in the heavens in lines ? From rest and sleep, which but thy picture[s] be, Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow, And soonest our best men with thee do go, Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.

Thou'rt slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well, And better than thy stroke ; why swell'st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally, And Death shall be no more ; Death, thou shalt die. The poem conveys the message that as human beings, we should have positive qualities like affection, love, fellow-feeling, sympathy, generosity and a sense of sharing.

The poet also brings forth the idea that people with negative, inhuman values like selfishness, greed and cruelty are ultimately punished. What happened to the cake every time when the old lady tried to bake it? Answer: Saint Peter became angry at her greed because she did not give a piece of cake to Saint Peter to satiate his hunger. When he cursed the lady, she turned into a bird.