The Cambridge Companion to John Donne

A collection of sixteen essays giving a comprehensive guide to the work of John Donne.

Achsah Guibbory (Edited by)

9780521540032, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 2 February 2006

312 pages, 5 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.42 kg

'The volume is refreshing in its inclusion of a sociolinguistic exploration of the works, as well as an electrifying final piece by A. S. Byatt … This companion more than deserves to be on our libraries' shelves, enjoying pride of place next to its older siblings on Jonson, Marlowe, Shakespeare and Spenser'. English Studies

The Cambridge Companion to John Donne introduces students (undergraduate and graduate) to the range, brilliance, and complexity of John Donne. Sixteen essays, written by an international array of leading scholars and critics, cover Donne's poetry (erotic, satirical, devotional) and his prose (including his Sermons and occasional letters). Providing readings of his texts and also fully situating them in the historical and cultural context of early modern England, these essays offer the most up-to-date scholarship and introduce students to the current thinking and debates about Donne, while providing tools for students to read Donne with greater understanding and enjoyment. Special features include a chronology; a short biography; essays on political and religious contexts; an essay on the experience of reading his lyrics; a meditation on Donne by the contemporary novelist A. S. Byatt; and an extensive bibliography of editions and criticism.

Chronology
1. Donne's life: a sketch Jonathan F. S. Post
2. The text of Donne's writings Ted-Larry Pebworth
3. The social context and nature of Donne's writing: occasional verse and letters Arthur F. Marotti
4. Literary contexts: predecessors and contemporaries Andrew Hadfield
5. Donne's religious world Alison Shell and Arnold Hunt
6. Donne's political world Tom Cain
7. Reading and rereading Donne's poetry Judith Herz
8. Satirical writing: Donne in shadows Annabel Patterson
9. Erotic poetry Achsah Guibbory
10. Devotional writing Helen Wilcox
11. Donne as preacher Peter McCullough
12. Donne's language: the conditions of communication Lynne Magnusson
13. Gender matters: the women in Donne's poems Ilona Bell
14. Facing death Ramie Targoff
15. Donne's afterlife Dayton Haskin
16. Feeling thought: Donne and the embodied mind A. S. Byatt
17. Select bibliography L. E. Semler.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: general [DSB]