The Cambridge Companion to John Donne [Paperback]

A collection of sixteen essays giving a comprehensive guide to the work of John Donne.An invaluable guide for both student and teacher, this collection of specially written essays offers the most up-to-date scholarship and introduces students to the current thinking and debates about John Donne - the pre-eminent 'metaphysical' poet, and one of the greatest lyric poets of all time.An invaluable guide for both student and teacher, this collection of specially written essays offers the most up-to-date scholarship and introduces students to the current thinking and debates about John Donne - the pre-eminent 'metaphysical' poet, and one of the greatest lyric poets of all time.Sixteen new 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 studies of his text as well as setting them in the historical and cultural context of early modern England, this Companion's up-to-date scholarship introduces students to current issues of debate, and gives them a means to better understand and appreciate John Donne's literary achievements.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 thoughl³%