Welcome back to The Daily Poem, a podcast from Goldberry Studios. I'm Sean Johnson, and today is Thursday, September 5th, 2004. We are still in the midst of our Holy Sonnet week, and today, in the words of Chuck Berry, we must do our alma mater. That is to say, the greatest of the great holy sonnets, at least the most famous.

I'm going to make a case that maybe there's another sonnet that does the job of this one even better,

but that's a contentious position that I'll say for tomorrow.

Today's poem is Divine Meditation number 10, better known by its first line,

Death, Be Not Proud.

It is, in fact, narrowly beating out 14, batter my heart, three-person God, as the best known

and most revered of Dunn's holy sonnets.

In fact, I'm probably going to catch some grief for leaving

14 out this week. I'm going to apologize in advance. But tomorrow I'll bring you a holy sonnet that

maybe you're less likely to know or have encountered in your wanderings. So hopefully that will

make up for it. I'll read this poem once, offer a few comments, and then read it one more time.

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. From rest and sleep,

Which but thy pictures be, much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow,

And soonest our best men with thee do go, rest of their bones and soul's delivery.

Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men, and thus with poison, war, and sickness dwell.

And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well, and better than thy stroke.

Why swell'st thou then?

One short sleep past, we wake eternally, and death shall be no more.

Death, thou shalt die as I said I think this is a justly revered poem and it shows a rare moment of peace and assurance in Dunn as I I mentioned in previous episodes this week, Dunn as he produced these sonnets, was going through all kinds of turmoil in his life, not only

theologically and politically, but at some point in the writing process, he also lost his beloved wife many years, for whom he had made great

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