Contexualist Perception in Death Be Not Proud

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Contexualist Perception in Death Be Not Proud

One of the most fascinating views of life is the contextualistic perception. Contextualists seek to understand the essential human passions of the world. As a contexualist interpreting a poem, it is portentous to observe the passion of the poem. A contextualist draws the sensations out of the poet's mind. It focuses on the emotional thoughts and vivid ideas created in the picture painted by the poet. There is always a picture, some sort of portrait of emotion the writer wants to express to the reader in order to build a connection. The connection is made when he can successfully duplicate the same picture in his mind to the reader. Contextualists seek the deeper meaning behind the story. They appreciate the vividness and intensity that life, and even death, has to offer.

No poem of John Donne's is more widely read or more directly associated with Donne than the tenth of the Holy Sonnets,"Death, be not proud." Donne's reputation as a morbid preacher was well-known. He had a portrait of himself made while posed in a winding-sheet so that he could contemplate a personalized memento of death. Donne draws upon a popular subject in medieval and Renaissance art, Le roi mort or King Death. His fascination with death reaches another plateau with this poem. He almost welcomes it and denounces the process as being neither horrifying nor the "end-all be-all." In a contextual point of view, he works to rupture habitual thinking and bring attention to the intensity and depth of a situation by creating doubt or offering a new aspect of his subject. Donne takes this poem and pours forth an array of visions that directly connects to the contextualist in a look at death, the pa...

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...s now.

Religion has been an area of doubt for me for many years. My faith in the Christian religion has wavered so much, yet there was so much I did not know. So I took a Bible and Literature class this semester. It was the best decision I could have ever made. I learned so much from studying the Bible as a piece of literature rather than a faith. It allowed me to question the teachings I learned as a young child, and I did not feel guilty for disagreeing with what I had learned. It has made me want to learn more and question more in order to experience the true passions behind religious faith.

In conclusion, I am a contextualist thinker/perceiver of the world. Poetry is of the most mysterious and wonderful pieces of literature, in my opinion, because it allows your mind to reach into the depth of your soul and express emotion and truth through passion.

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