Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions and Death's Duel With the Life of Dr. John Donne by Izaak Walton

by Donne, John; Motion, Andrew

• ISBN13: 9780375705489
• ISBN10: 0375705481
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-12-07
• Publisher: Vintage

Summary

John Donne (1572-1631) is best known as the greatest English metaphysical poet. But there was another dimension to Donne's life and writing that, if less well known, is no less profound and beautiful. Born into an aristocratic Catholic family, Donne joined the Church of England at the age of twenty-one out of fear of persecution. At the age of forty-three, he gave up his preoccupations with secular prestige and devoted himself utterly to religion. It was eight years later when, battered with fever, the deaths of his beloved wife, several of his children, and many dear lifelong friends, he composedDevotions upon Emergent Occasions. There is both trauma and great drama in this extended meditation on the meaning of mortality, the possibility of salvation, and the true nature of the passage of eternal life. With a new introduction by poet and biographer Andrew Motion, one of the most revered books of Christian devotion speaks to us again of the higher aspirations of man and the always-present possibility of a relationship with God. This long out of print edition also contains Donne's last sermon, "Death's Duel" as well as the short colorful biography of him written by his contemporary Izaak Walton.

Author Biography

John Donne is perhaps best known as the greatest English metaphysical poet. But there was another dimension to his life and writing. At the age of 43, Donne abandoned the youthful concerns expressed in his poetry, took Anglican orders, and sought a life of spiritual devotion, bringing his poetic gift to the examination of universal truths. Eight years later, in 1623, battered by fever and tremendous loss, he composed Devotions upon Emergent Occasions. There is both trauma and great drama in this extended meditation on the meaning of mortality, the possibility of salvation, and the passage to eternal life.

Table of Contents

About the Vintage Spiritual Classics	vii
John F. Thornton
Susan B. Varenne
Preface to the Vintage Spiritual Classics Edition	xi
Andrew Motion
Chronology of the Life of John Donne	xxiii
Note on the Texts	xxxiii
DEVOTIONS UPON EMERGENT OCCASIONS
THE STATIONS OF THE SICKNESS	1	(152)
The First Alteration, the First Grudging, of the Sickness	3	(5)
The Strength and the Function of the Senses, and Other Faculties, Change and Fail	8	(5)
The Patient Takes His Bed	13	(6)
The Physician Is Sent For	19	(7)
The Physician Comes	26	(6)
The Physician Is Afraid	32	(7)
The Physician Desires to Have Others Joined with Him	39	(7)
The King Sends His Own Physician	46	(6)
Upon Their Consultation They Prescribe	52	(6)
They Find the Disease to Steal on Insensibly, and Endeavor to Meet with It So	58	(6)
They Use Cordials, to Keep the Venom and Malignity of the Disease from the Heart	64	(7)
They Apply Pigeons, to Draw the Vapors from the Head	71	(7)
The Sickness Declares the Infection and Malignity Thereof by Spots	78	(5)
The Physicians Observe These Accidents to Have Fallen upon the Critical Days	83	(8)
I Sleep Not Day nor Night	91	(6)
From the Bells of the Church Adjoining, I Am Daily Remembered of My Burial in the Funerals of Others	97	(5)
Now, This Bell Tolling Softly for Another, Says to Me: Thou Must Die	102	(6)
The Bell Rings Out, and Tells Me in Him, That I Am Dead	108	(8)
At Last the Physicians, After a Long and Stormy Voyage, See Land: They Have So Good Signs of the Concoction of the Disease, as That They May Safely Proceed to Purge	116	(9)
Upon These Indications of Digested Matter, They Proceed to Purge	125	(7)
God Prospers Their Practice, and He, by Them, Calls Lazarus out of His Tomb, Me out of My Bed	132	(7)
The Physicians Consider the Root and Occasion, the Embers, and Coals, and Fuel of the Disease, and Seek to Purge or Correct That	139	(6)
They Warn Me of the Fearful Danger of Relapsing	145	(8)
Death's Duel	153	(26)
The Life of Dr. John Donne (1640)	179	(46)
Izaak Walton
Notes	225	(8)
Suggestions for Further Reading	233