Holy+Sonnets+10+and+14


 * AP English - Poetry**
 * John Donne’s Holy Sonnets 10 & 14**


 * Holy Sonnet X: Death, Be Not Proud**


 * 1) Death, be not proud, though some have callèd thee
 * 2) Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
 * 3) For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow
 * 4) Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
 * 5) From rest and sleep, which yet thy pictures be,
 * 6) Much pleasure, then from thee much more, must flow
 * 7) And soonest our best men with thee do go,
 * 8) Rest of their bones and soul's delivery.
 * 9) Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings and desperate men
 * 10) And dost with poison, war and sickness dwell,
 * 11) And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
 * 12) And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then ?
 * 13) One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
 * 14) And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.


 * HOLY SONNETS.**
 * XIV. Batter My Heart**


 * 1) Batter my heart, three-person'd God ; for you
 * 2) As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ;
 * 3) That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
 * 4) Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
 * I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,
 * 1) Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
 * 2) Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
 * 3) But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
 * 4) Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
 * 5) But am betroth'd unto your enemy ;
 * 6) Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
 * 7) Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
 * 8) Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
 * 9) Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

Viceroy - A ruler exercising authority in a colony on behalf of a sovereign. Fain - With pleasure.