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LINES 13 to14 One short sleep past, we wake eternally And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die. Meaning- Lines 13 and 14 bring the poem to its conclusion, making explicit the reason why the speaker has been so bold in addressing death: the eternal afterlife. Death is nothing but a "short sleep," a transition from earthly living—with all its miseries and pains—to eternity. The monosyllabic words that begin line 13 emphasize this idea of shortness. The whole poem depends upon faith and is informed by Christian theology. When people "wake eternally," they will be out of death's reach. Death, as a concept, will be as good as dead to them. Here it seems likely that the poem is informed by the Bible, namely 1 Corinthians 15:26—"the final enemy to be destroyed is death." It is interesting to note that these lines present a more uplifting and affirmative tone than many of the others in the Holy Sonnets series, which generally consist of a speaker trying to reconcile belief in God with their place in the world (in the hope of attaining eternal life in heaven). With that in mind, there is an important distinction to be made about the poem. In its last line, the speaker does not literally mean that death has been defeated—death remains a constant presence in the world. But death, viewed in the bright light of faith, is nothing to be feared—and it need not have any of the characteristics that are usually attached to it. In essence, then, the poem is an argument not just against death, but also for faith.