In Donne’s Sonnet What Does The Phrase “One Short Sleep Past” Mean?
a. Death is unavoidable.
b. Death is more permanent than sleep.
c. Death comes sooner than expected.
d. Death like a nap isn’t permanent.
In Donne’s sonnet, the phrase “one short sleep past” means: Death, like a nap, isn’t permanent. I can assure that option D is correct. In fact, the lines after that mentioned in the questions are: we wake eternally And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die. Which confirms that for the author, the death is not permanent or eternal, on the contray, life is, so we will wake eternal and death would die.