[Quiet Man Cometh]

Originally Posted by Gallowsraven

John Donne simply rules. One of my favourite poets :D

My dad's a fan. I haven't read much of his stuff outside of the obligatory lit overview of the time period but Holy Sonnet 10 (my textbook says 6 but online references say 10 so I'm not sure) is one of my favourite poems. I considered it for recital in one of my first year poetry courses but ultimately went with Shakespeare's "When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes" (I forget the number).

"Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou are 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 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 should take the time to memorize it. That's not something current poetry teachers seem to care all that much about and first year teacher, who brought up that point, was the only one who ever asked us to recite anything from memory.I did have one english teacher in high school who asked us to memorize and write a passage from Macbeth, but we never had to read it aloud.