Reflection on Holy Sonnet 10 by John Dunne

 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 picture[s] 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'rt slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost 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. 
 
    I find reading Dunne's holy sonnets in class very interesting, especially since I myself am a Christian.  Holy sonnet 10 is essentially Dunne insulting "Death" and saying that he fears it not.  I'm not gonna lie, even though I'm a Christian and believe in eternal life and all that, I am still scared out of my mind to die.  Like Ms. Quelch said in class, it is in our nature to be unable to fathom such a thought, that our bodies may cease to exist.  I admire Dunne's faith in his beliefs, and I think that that there is less of today.  In our society where seeing is believing, it becomes harder to think of the eternal rather than the present, which is what Dunne is advising us to do when he wrote this sonnet.  Holy sonnet 10 is a thought-provoking sonnet which delves into a topic that we would rather avoid, and to be honest, I enjoyed it.