Question

Explain how Donne's use of paradox helps convey the message/theme of the poem of "Death, be not proud."

Accepted Answer

Paradox lies at the very heart of this moving yet at the same time playful poem that questions the very nature of death in the light of the hope of eternal life that Christians have. The third and fourth lines introduce this paradox:

For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

The paradox, simply put, is that death does not actually cause some people to die. The narrator is thus able to confidently express the fact that he can't be "killed" by death, even though, ostensibly, that is death's job. 
The conclusion of the poem brings this paradox to its completion in the way that it states how death itself has only death to look forward to at the end of time, in comparison with humans:

One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.

The ultimate paradox is that, because of the hope in the afterlife and the final ressurrection that Christians such as Donne had, death, although it appears to be so "Mighty and dreadfull," actually is doomed to die itself in the light of the heavenly eternity that Donne believed in.

Answer

John Donne was an Anglican priest and prolific poet from the English Renaissance. Donne is famous for writing metaphysical poetry that used conceits (extended metaphors) to compare two especially dissimilar things. In the poem, “Sonnet X” (better known by its first line, “Death, Be Not Proud”) from Donne’s collection of “Holy Sonnets,” Donne presents a paradox that is essential to Christian ontology—specifically that Death will one day die.
The poem starts by admonishing Death, personified in the poem, to be humble despite its power:

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.

Even though Death might lay people low and can quench life, it is a temporary power that will end. The poet relates that even though people throughout time have feared Death, it has been fooled.
Donne explores this idea further in the ending couplet of the poem. In the couplet’s resolution, he explains that in the end Death will die,

One short sleep past, we wake eternally
And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

The end of death is central to Donne’s belief as a Christian. In Christian ontology, death is merely a short period in terms of eternal destiny. In the Anglican faith of Donne’s time, everyone, Christian or not, would be raised from the dead at the end of the world and face eternal judgment. Death wasn’t seen as something that occurred eternally. Death would be destroyed or abolished by the second coming of Christ.
The paradox lies in the idea that death will end. Death is one of the only sure things in life. Everyone must die eventually. So for Donne to say that death is temporary and that it will one day end, is a paradox—it makes no sense. It only really makes sense in light of his Christian faith. The Anglican Church taught that Christ died, went into the grave/hell/hades, and then defeated Sin, Death, and the Devil by rising again. In Donne’s faith, when Christ rose from the dead, he allowed humanity to also rise with him—which took all the power from Death. That is the central paradox of the poem.

Answer

In general, poets use paradox—a figure of speech in which a speaker makes a statement that seems to contradict itself and therefore seems impossible but is nevertheless true—when they want to call attention to some truth. This particular poem attempts to turn the way many people think of death on its head, to make them see death in a completely different way, and a paradox seems like a good way to do that. We often struggle to accept our mortality, and death can seem so frightening and final, but it is—for those who believe in an afterlife—really only a gateway to the next stage of life. It is both an end and a beginning, and this, in itself, is paradoxical. Therefore, the use of paradox seems an appropriate figure to use because, for Christians like Donne, death is paradoxical by nature.

Death, be not proud

Explain how Donne's use of paradox helps convey the message/theme of the poem of "Death, be not proud."

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