Death, of course. More specifically, the defeat of death in eternal life.
John Donne is a poet, well-known for writing the poem 'Death, be not proud'.
Death Be Not Proud is a poem by John Donne. Its theological argument is summarized as death cannot be overcome, it is inevitable.
Three literary devices used in Holy Sonnet X "Death, be not proud" by John Donne are personification (assigning human qualities to death), paradox (the idea that death is not as powerful as it may seem), and apostrophe (directly addressing death as if it were a person).
Death be not proud is one of John Donne's Terrible Sonnets and is a hybrid form between Shakespearean and Petrarchan (as all the Terrible Sonnets are).Death be not proud has the characteristic ABBA ABBA octave of a Petrarchan sonnet, but there is no clear volta between octave and sestet (nor, to be fair, is there the natural run-on you would expect in a Shakespearean sonnet).Formally Death be not proud closes with a riming couplet - which you would normally expect from a Shakespearean sonnet - but the couplet does not epigrammatically sum up the previous twelve lines (rather it continues with the general exposition - as you would expect with the considerably later Miltonic sonnet).Overall Death be not proud is a sonnet which presents much matter for study and debate - simply jamming it into a labeled box would not be fair on it.
A paradox is a statement which seems contradictory yet suggests a truth. An example of one can be found in John Donne's "Death Be Not Proud" in which the author states that death has no right to be proud, for it is merely a slave to wars, murder, accidents, etc. The poem goes on to say that while humans do not truly die but only experience a "short sleep" before eternity, death is the only thing to die once nothing is left (as everything else has already ascended to a higher state of existence). The last line "Death; thou shalt die" in this classic poem is a paradox.
John Donne is a poet, well-known for writing the poem 'Death, be not proud'.
In line five of John Donne's poem "Death Be Not Proud," death is compared to "rest and sleep," implying that death is not something to be feared and is simply a peaceful state of slumber.
"Death be not Proud" is a sonnet by John Donne, following the structure of a Petrarchan sonnet with an octave and a sestet. It is a metaphysical poem that explores the theme of death and challenges the idea of death being something to fear.
just took exam... answer was D. Discursive
The tone in "Death Be Not Proud" by John Donne is defiant and challenging. The speaker directly addresses death as if to diminish its power and portray it as insignificant in the face of eternal life. The tone conveys a sense of triumph over death and the belief in a higher power.
In the poem "Death Be Not Proud" by John Donne, the lines "Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me" and "One short sleep past, we wake eternally" convey the idea that death's power is an illusion. The speaker challenges death's authority by asserting that it cannot truly destroy the soul or bring an end to existence, as life continues beyond death in eternal wakefulness.
The poem "Death, be not proud" by John Donne has a rhyme scheme of ABBA ABBA CDC DCD using the Petrarchan or Italian sonnet form. The rhyme scheme helps structure the poem's exploration of death and its defiance in the face of mortality.