eivable and even something to which he can look forward to. Furthermore, Donne's usage of carefully crafted words and phrases helps stir a vivid image of intensity within the contextualist's mind. Some key words in this poem that help to create a negative picture of Death are "mighty and dreadful," as they are both immediately countered. The countering of the words "mighty and dreadful" help give Death an image of the direct opposite meanings: weak and not so dreadful. "For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow/ Die not, poor Death..." The contradiction about Death's actual power is illuminated with the negation of the word "die" using the word "not." When this is what Death does for a living, that is, make things "die," his potency as a monstrous force is diminished with a simple negating word. The next instance of a contradictory phrase is with "poor Death." Death is not usually viewed as being poor and is traditionally not to be sympathized. Similarly, Death is not usually looked upon as a "slave" either. Donne uses his technique of upsetting habitual thinking in order to create depth to his poem. Donne traps Death into a dismal state of being and consequently, underrates his character. He does this again in the last line of the poem when he says, "And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die." He actually condemns Death to death itself, trapping him into a finite existence. This is the deeper meaning the contextualist draws out of the poem. On the surface, we look at the last line as a sort of foretelling of the future or simply deflating Death's ego by illuminating his imminent mortality. In actuality, the contextualist discovers that Donne has usurped Death's powers by condemning his existence and taking it away from him. The words Donne uses to associate Death with odious, evil beings give the contextualist the sense that Death is as low as those people and objects. But further than that is the idea ...
