John Donne - The Major Works including Songs and Sonnets and sermons

by Donne, John; Carey, John

• ISBN13: 9780192840417
• ISBN10: 019284041X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2000-09-28
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

This authoritative edition was formerly published in the acclaimed Oxford Authors series under the general editorship of Frank Kermode. It brings together a unique combination of Donne's poetry and prose - all the major poems, complemented by rarely published letters and extracts from Donne'ssermons - to give the essence of his work and thinking. John Donne (1572-1631) is today celebrated as one of the greatest of the metaphysical poets, whose verse was daringly original and whose use of imagery and conceits marked a new, intellectual approach to poetry. His Satires, Elegies, and Songs and Sonnets, which contain his most famous love poems,were complemented by his religious writing, both verse and prose. He was one of the most renowned preachers of his day, and this volume does equal justice to the full range of his work. In addition to nearly all his English poetry this volume includes over 130 extracts from Donne's sermons, aswell as the full text of his last sermon, 'Death's Duel'. A distinguishing feature of the selection is that the works are arranged in the chronological order of their composition.

Table of Contents

Introduction	xix
Acknowledgements	xxxiii
Chronology	xxxiv
Note on the Text	xxxviii
To Mr T. W. [`All hail, sweet poet']	1	(1)
To Mr T. W. [`Haste thee harsh verse']	2	(1)
To Mr T. W. [`Pregnant again']	2	(1)
To Mr S. B. [`O thou which to search out']	3	(1)
To Mr T. W. [`At once, from hence']	3	(1)
To Mr C. B. [`Thy friend, whom thy deserts']	4	(1)
To Mr R. W. [`Kindly I envy']	4	(1)
To Mr R. W. [`Muse not that by thy mind']	4	(1)
To Mr R. W. [`Zealously my Muse']	5	(1)
To Mr I. L. [`Of that short roll']	5	(1)
Satire 1 [`Away thou fondling motley humourist']	6	(3)
To Mr E. G. [`Even as lame things']	9	(1)
The Bracelet	9	(3)
To his Mistress Going to Bed	12	(1)
Jealousy	13	(1)
From Paradoxes and Problems	14	(3)
That All Things Kill Themselves	14	(1)
That the Gifts of the Body are Better than those of the Mind, or of Fortune	15	(1)
That it is possible to Find Some Virtue in Some Women	16	(1)
The Anagram	17	(2)
Change	19	(1)
The Perfume	20	(2)
Satire 2 [`Sir; though (I thank God for it)']	22	(2)
To Mr B. B. [`Is not thy sacred hunger']	24	(1)
To Mr I.L. [`Blessed are your north parts']	25	(1)
Epithalamion Made at Lincoln's Inn	26	(3)
[`Kind pity chokes my spleen']	29	(2)
His Picture	31	(1)
Epigrams (1596-1602)	32	(4)
Hero and Leander	32	(1)
Pyramus and Thisbe	32	(1)
Niobe	32	(1)
A Burnt Ship	33	(1)
Fall of a Wall	33	(1)
A Lame Beggar	33	(1)
Cales and Guiana	33	(1)
Sir John Wingfield	33	(1)
A Self-Accuser	34	(1)
A Licentious Person	34	(1)
Antiquary	34	(1)
The Juggler	34	(1)
Disinherited	34	(1)
The Lair	35	(1)
Mercurius Gallo-Belgicus	35	(1)
Phryne	35	(1)
An Obscure Writer	35	(1)
Klockius	35	(1)
Raderus	36	(1)
Ralphius	36	(1)
[`Well; I may now receive']	36	(6)
The Storm	42	(2)
To Mr R.W. [If, as mine is']	44	(1)
The Calm	45	(2)
To Sir Henry Wotton [`Sir, more than kisses']	47	(1)
[`Thou shalt not laugh']	48	(3)
To Mr Rowland Woodward [`Like one who in her third widowhood']	51	(1)
To Sir Henry Wotton [`Here's no more news']	52	(1)
H.W. in Hibernia Belligranti	53	(1)
On Sir Thomas Egerton	54	(1)
[`Oh, let me not serve so']	54	(2)
Love's War	56	(1)
On his Mistress	57	(1)
[`Nature's lay idiot']	58	(1)
Love's Progress	59	(3)
The Comparison	62	(1)
The Autumnal	63	(1)
From a letter, possibly to Sir Henry Wotton (1600?)	64	(1)
Sappho to Philaenis	65	(2)
To the Countess of Huntingdon [`That unripe side of earth']	67	(3)
The Progress of the Soul. Metempsychosis	70	(16)
Letter to Sir George More (2 February 1602)	86	(2)
Songs and Sonnets	88	(50)
The Flea	89	(1)
The Good Morrow	89	(1)
Song [`Go, and catch a falling star']	90	(1)
Woman's Constancy	91	(1)
The Undertaking	91	(1)
The Sun Rising	92	(1)
The Indifferent	93	(1)
Love's Usury	94	(1)
The Canonization	95	(1)
The Triple Fool	96	(1)
Lovers' Infiniteness	97	(1)
Song [`Sweetest love, I do not go']	98	(1)
The Legacy	99	(1)
A Fever	100	(1)
Air and Angels	101	(1)
Break of Day	102	(1)
The Anniversary	102	(1)
A Valediction: of my Name in the Window	103	(2)
Twickenham Garden	105	(1)
A Valediction: of the Book	106	(2)
Community	108	(1)
Love's Growth	109	(1)
Love's Exchange	109	(2)
Confined Love	111	(1)
The Dream [`Dear love, for nothing less than thee']	111	(1)
A Valediction: of Weeping	112	(1)
Love's Alchemy	113	(1)
The Curse	114	(1)
The Message	115	(1)
A Nocturnal upon St Lucy's Day, being the shortest day	116	(1)
Witchraft by a Picture	117	(1)
The Bait	117	(1)
The Apparition	118	(1)
The Broken Heart	119	(1)
A Valediction: forbidding Mouring	120	(1)
The Ecstasy	121	(2)
Love's Deity	123	(1)
Love's Diet	124	(1)
The Will	125	(2)
The Funeral	127	(1)
The Blossom	128	(1)
The Primrose	129	(1)
The Relic	130	(1)
The Damp	131	(1)
The Dissolution	131	(1)
A Jet Ring Sent	132	(1)
Negative Love	133	(1)
The Prohibition	133	(1)
The Expiration	134	(1)
The Computation	134	(1)
The Paradox	135	(1)
Farewell to Love	135	(2)
A Lecture upon the Shadow	137	(1)
The Dream [`Image of her whom I love']	138	(1)
To Sir Henry Wotton At his going Ambassador to Venice	138	(2)
A Letter Written	140	(1)
Sir H. G.
J. D. alternis vicibus
From Paradoxes and Problems	141	(2)
Why Hath the Common Opinion Afforded Women Souls?	141	(1)
Why Are the Fairest Falsest?	142	(1)
Why Puritans Make Long Sermons?	142	(1)
The Cross	143	(1)
From a letter to Sir Henry Goodyer (9 October 1607)	144	(3)
From a letter to Sir Henry Goodyer (1608?)	147	(1)
To Sir Henry Goodyer [`Who makes the past']	147	(2)
From Biathanatos	149	(2)
[The Lure of Suicide]	149	(1)
[Suicide against the Law of Nature?]	149	(1)
[Christ a Suicide?]	150	(1)
To the Countess of Bedford [`Reason is our soul's left hand']	151	(1)
To the Countess of Bedford [`You have refined me']	152	(2)
Resurrection, imperfect	154	(1)
Upon the Annunciation and Passion falling upon one day. 1608	155	(1)
From a letter to Sir Henry Goodyer	156	(1)
Letter to Sir Henry Goodyer (September 1608)	157	(2)
To Mrs M. H. [`Mad paper stay']	159	(2)
A Litany	161	(8)
From a letter to Sir Henry Goodyer (Winter 1608/9)	169	(1)
To Mrs Magdalen Herbert: of St Mary Magdalene	170	(1)
La Corona	171	(2)
Holy Sonnets	173	(3)
[`As due many titles']	173	(1)
[`Oh my black soul!']	174	(1)
[`This is my play's last scene']	174	(1)
[`At the round earth's imagined corners']	175	(1)
[`If poisonous minerals']	175	(1)
[`Death be not proud']	175	(1)
To E. of D. with Six Holy Sonnets	176	(4)
[`Spit in my face you Jews']	176	(1)
[`Why are we by all creatures']	177	(1)
[`What if the present were the world's last night?']	177	(1)
[`Batter my heart']	177	(1)
[`Wilt thou love God, as he thee?']	178	(1)
[`Father, part of his double interest']	178	(1)
[`Thou has made me']	179	(1)
[`O might those sighs and tears']	179	(1)
[`I am a little world']	179	(1)
[`If faithful souls be alike glorified']	180	(1)
Elegy on the Lady Markham [`Man is the world']	180	(2)
To the Lady Bedford [`You that are she and you']	182	(1)
Elegy on Mistress Bulstrode [`Death I recant']	183	(2)
An Elegy upon the Death of Mistress Bulstrode [`Language thou art too narrow']	185	(2)
To the Countess of Bedford [`To have written then']	187	(2)
From a letter to Sir Henry Goodyer (1609?)	189	(1)
From Pseudo-Martyr	190	(2)
[Donne and Martyrdom: from Donne's Foreword]	190	(1)
[Donne's Reasons for Changing His Religion]	191	(1)
[The Divine Right of Kings]	191	(1)
To the Countess of Bedford at New Year's Tide [`This twilight of two years']	192	(2)
To the Countess of Bedford [`Honour is so sublime perfection']	194	(2)
Letter to Sir Henry Goodyer (1610?)	196	(2)
To the Countess of Huntingdon [`Man to God's image']	198	(2)
To Sir Edward Herbert, at Juliers	200	(2)
From Ignatius His Conclave	202	(2)
A Funeral Elegy	204	(3)
An Anatomy of the World. The First Anniversary	207	(11)
Of the Progress of the Soul. The Second Anniversary	218	(13)
A Letter to the Lady Carey, and Mistress Essex Rich, from Amiens	231	(2)
From a letter to George Garrard from Paris (April? 1612)	233	(1)
From a letter to Sir Henry Goodyer from Paris (April? 1612)	234	(1)
To the Countess of Bedford. Begun in France but never perfected [`Though I be dead']	234	(1)
Epitaph on Himself. To the Countess of Bedford	235	(1)
Elegy on Prince Henry	236	(2)
An Epithalamion, or Marriage Song on the Lady Elizabeth and Count Palatine being Married on St Valentine's Day	238	(3)
Good Friday, 1613. Riding Westward	241	(2)
Epithalamion at the Marriage of the Earl of Somerset	243	(7)
From a letter to Sir Henry Goodyer (February 1614)	250	(1)
To the Countess of Salisbury. August 1614 [`Fair, great, and good']	250	(2)
Obsequies to the Lord Harrington, brother to the Countess of Bedford	252	(7)
From a letter to Sir Henry Goodyer (late 1614)	259	(1)
From Essays in Divinity	260	(3)
From a sermon preached at Greenwich (30 April 1615)	263	(1)
[God's Image]	263	(1)
From an undated sermon preached at the Temple Church (24 June 1615?)	264	(1)
[Nonconformists Dangerous]	264	(1)
[The Soul of Law]	265	(1)
[God's Exchequer]	265	(1)
From a sermon preached at Whitehall (21 April 1616)	265	(2)
[God's Speed]	265	(1)
[Indifference]	266	(1)
From a sermon preached at Paul's Cross (24 March 1617)	267	(3)
[Sin's Body]	267	(1)
[Small Sins]	267	(1)
[Women]	268	(1)
[King James v. Rome]	269	(1)
Holy Sonnet 17 [`Since she whom I loved']	270	(1)
From a sermon preached at Whitehall (2 November 1617)	270	(1)
[Rome's Hopes]	270	(1)
From a sermon preached to Queen Anne (14 December 1617)	271	(1)
[Salvation Sure]	271	(1)
From an undated Whitsunday sermon (c. 1618-21)	272	(1)
[Predestination]	272	(1)
[Aural Vasectomy]	273	(1)
From a sermon preached at Lincoln's Inn (1618)	273	(1)
[Original Sin]	273	(1)
From a sermon preached at Lincoln's Inn (1618)	274	(1)
[Man's Misery]	274	(1)
[Disease Rampant]	275	(1)
From a sermon preached at Lincoln's Inn (1618)	275	(2)
[Sin Not Nothing]	275	(1)
[Undone Sins]	276	(1)
[Anabaptists]	277	(1)
From a sermon preached at Lincoln's Inn (1618)	277	(1)
[Omniscience No Cause of Sin]	277	(1)
From a sermon preached at Whitehall (12 February 1618)	278	(1)
[Against Extempore Preaching]	278	(1)
From a sermon preached at Essex House at the Churching of Lady Doncaster after childbirth (December 1618)	279	(1)
[Vessels of Dung]	279	(1)
From a sermon preached to the Lords (28 March 1619)	280	(1)
[All Must Die]	280	(1)
[Christ's Death Voluntary]	281	(1)
[Ecstatic Death]	281	(1)
From a sermon preached at Lincoln's Inn (1619)	281	(1)
[Rich and Poor]	281	(1)
From a sermon preached at Lincoln's Inn on Donne's leaving for Germany (18 April 1619)	282	(1)
[Farewell]	282	(1)
Letter to Sir Robert Ker (April 1619)	283	(1)
A Hymn to Christ, at the Author's last going into Germany	283	(1)
From a sermon preached to the Prince and Princess Palatine at Heidelberg (16 June 1619)	284	(1)
[Dying]	284	(1)
From a sermon preached at The Hague (19 December 1619)	285	(1)
[Getting Richer]	285	(1)
To Mr Tilman after he had taken orders	286	(2)
Holy Sonnets	288	(1)
18 [`Show me dear Christ, thy spouse']	288	(1)
19 [`Oh, to vex me']	288	(1)
From a sermon preached at Lincoln's Inn (30 January 1620)	289	(1)
[Election]	289	(1)
From a sermon preached at Sir Francis Nethersole's marriage (February 1620)	290	(1)
[What Wives Need]	290	(1)
From a sermon preached at Whitehall (2 April 1620)	290	(1)
[Usury]	290	(1)
[Rich Sponge]	291	(1)
From a sermon preached at Whitehall (30 April 1620)	291	(1)
[Sects]	291	(1)
From a sermon preached at Lincoln's Inn (Easter Term 1620?)	292	(3)
[Resurrection]	292	(3)
From a sermon preached at Lincoln's Inn (Easter Term 1620?)	295	(1)
[Inheriting the Kingdom]	295	(1)
From a sermon preached at Lincoln's Inn (Trinity Sunday 1620)	296	(1)
[The Limits of Charity]	296	(1)
[God's Justice]	297	(1)
From a sermon preached at Lincoln's Inn (late November 1620?)	297	(1)
[Monasticism]	297	(1)
From a sermon preached to the Countess of Bedford (7 Jnuary 1621)	298	(1)
[Shaddai]	298	(1)
From a sermon preached at Whitehall (8 April 1621)	299	(1)
[Man as Receptacle]	299	(1)
From a sermon preached at the marriage of Miss Margaret Washington (30 May 1621)	299	(1)
[Marrying the Lamb]	299	(1)
From a sermon preached at Lincoln's Inn (Trinity Term 1621?)	300	(1)
[Entertainments]	300	(1)
From a sermon preached at Lincoln's Inn (Trinity Term 1621?)	301	(1)
[Kings Are Gods]	301	(1)
From a sermon preached at St Paul's (Christmas Day 1621)	302	(1)
[Reason's Uses]	302	(1)
[Precious Stones]	303	(1)
Upon the translation of the Psalms by Sir Philip Sidney, and the Countess of Pembroke his sister	303	(2)
From a sermon preached at Whitehall (8 March 1622)	305	(1)
[Heaven Needs Bodies]	305	(1)
[Death]	306	(1)
From a sermon preached on Easter Day 1622	306	(4)
[The Archangel's Voice]	306	(2)
[We Shall Not All Sleep]	308	(2)
[Annihilation]	310	(1)
From a sermon preached on Easter Monday 1622	310	(3)
[Everything From Nothing]	310	(2)
[Knowledge in Heaven]	312	(1)
From a sermon preached on Whitsunday (c. 1622)	313	(1)
[Martyrs]	313	(1)
From a sermon preached at St Paul's (24 June 1622)	313	(1)
[Get a Job]	313	(1)
From a sermon preached at Hanworth (25 August 1622)	314	(1)
[Creation Self-Evident]	314	(1)
From a sermon preached at Paul's Cross (15 September 1622)	315	(1)
[Against Freedom of Preaching]	315	(1)
From a sermon preached at St Paul's (13 October 1622)	316	(1)
[Exalt Yourself]	316	(1)
From a sermon preached to the Earl of Carlisle (1622)	316	(4)
[Right and Wrong Preaching]	316	(2)
[Hell]	318	(2)
From a sermon of 5 November 1622, commemorating deliverance from the Gunpowder Plot	320	(1)
[Monarchy]	320	(1)
From a sermon preached to the Virginia Company (13 November 1622)	321	(1)
[Virginia]	321	(1)
From a sermon preached at St Paul's (Christmas Day 1622)	322	(1)
[No Reconciliation With Papists]	322	(1)
From a sermon preached 2 February 1623	322	(2)
[Prayer]	322	(2)
From a sermon preached at St Paul's (Easter Day [28 March] 1623)	324	(1)
[Soul and Body One]	324	(1)
From a sermon preached on Whitsunday (c. 1623)	325	(1)
[Eternal Torment]	325	(1)
[Kings]	325	(1)
From an undated sermon on the Penitential Psalms	326	(1)
[Body-Care]	326	(1)
From an undated sermon (c. 1623?) preached at a christening	327	(1)
[Surprise in Store for Pagans]	327	(1)
From an undated sermon (c. 1623?) preached at a christening	327	(1)
[Married Love]	327	(1)
From an undated sermon (c. 1623?) preached at a christening	328	(1)
[Unbaptized Children]	328	(1)
From a sermon preached April-June 1623	329	(2)
[Poetic Endings]	329	(1)
[Silent Tears]	329	(1)
[The Holy Ghost as Stylist]	329	(2)
[Satan's Small Change]	331	(1)
From a sermon preached 1 November 1623	331	(1)
[Powers and Principalities]	331	(1)
Hymn to God my God, in my Sickness	332	(1)
A Hymn to God the Father	333	(1)
From Devotions upon Emergent Occasions	333	(18)
From an undated sermon (2 February 1624?)	351	(1)
[Causes of Disease]	351	(1)
From a sermon preached on Easter Day 1624	351	(1)
[Mass Martyrdom]	351	(1)
From a sermon preached 13 June 1624	352	(2)
[Our Communicable God]	352	(1)
[The Saved Are From All Churches]	353	(1)
From an undated sermon (1624-5?)	354	(1)
[A Reciprocal Plague]	354	(1)
From an undated sermon (1624-5?)	355	(1)
[Does God Predestine to Damnation?]	355	(1)
From a sermon preached Christmas Day 1624	355	(2)
[Mercy]	355	(2)
From a sermon preached New Year's Day 1625	357	(1)
[A Damnable Monosyllable]	357	(1)
From a sermon preached 4 March 1625	358	(1)
[Whispering Sins]	358	(1)
Letter to Sir Robert Ker (March 1625)	358	(1)
An Hymn to the Saints, and to Marquis Hamilton	358	(2)
From a sermon preached Easter Day 1625	360	(1)
[Fear Judgement]	360	(1)
From a sermon preached 8 May 1625	360	(3)
[Man Is All]	360	(1)
[Riches v. Poverty]	361	(2)
From a sermon preached Whitsunday 1625	363	(1)
[Things Getting Worse]	363	(1)
[The Best Most Guilty]	364	(1)
From a sermon preached Christmas Day 1625	364	(1)
[Jewish Doubts]	364	(1)
From a sermon preached 16 January 1626	365	(1)
[The Dead Are Not Dead]	365	(1)
From a sermon preached 29 January 1626	366	(2)
[Joy]	366	(2)
From a sermon preached before King Charles 1 (24 February 1626)	368	(1)
[No Wall Against God]	368	(1)
From a sermon preached on Easter Day 1626	369	(1)
[Re-Compacted Bodies]	369	(1)
From a sermon preached before King Charles 1 (18 April 1626)	369	(2)
[Royal Priesthood]	369	(2)
From a sermon preached 21 May 1626	371	(1)
[Purgatory]	371	(1)
From a sermon preached 5 November 1626	371	(1)
[Straight Lines and Compasses]	371	(1)
[God and Hebrew]	372	(1)
From a sermon preached 12 December 1626	372	(2)
[The State of Knowledge]	372	(1)
[Inattention at Prayer]	373	(1)
[Mutability]	374	(1)
From a sermon preached on Christmas Day 1626	374	(2)
[Transubstantiation]	374	(2)
From a sermon preached at St Paul's (28 January 1627)	376	(1)
[Behaviour of the St Paul's Congregation]	376	(1)
From a sermon preached 11 February 1627	376	(2)
[This Minute Is Eternity]	376	(2)
From a sermon preached on Easter Day 1627	378	(3)
[Christian Imperialism]	378	(1)
[Where the Dead Are]	378	(1)
[A Better Resurrection]	379	(2)
From a sermon preached before King Charles 1 (April 1627)	381	(1)
[Satire]	381	(1)
[If Gold Could Speak]	381	(1)
From a sermon preached upon Trinity Sunday 1627	382	(1)
[The Trinity]	382	(1)
From a sermon preached 19 November 1627	382	(2)
[Resurrection of the Body]	382	(1)
[Angels]	383	(1)
From a sermon preached on the first Friday in Lent (29 February 1628)	384	(2)
[Street Music]	384	(1)
[Get a Job]	385	(1)
From a sermon preached on Easter Day 1628	386	(2)
[God's Mirrors]	386	(1)
[Heaven Inexpressible]	387	(1)
From a sermon preached before King Charles 1 (15 April 1628)	388	(1)
[Liberality]	388	(1)
From a sermon preached 23 November 1628	388	(1)
[Dogs]	388	(1)
From a sermon preached 25 January 1629	389	(1)
[Terrifying the Atheist]	389	(1)
From a sermon preached on Easter Day 1629	390	(1)
[How Many Will be Saved?]	390	(1)
From a sermon preached before King Charles 1 (April 1629)	391	(1)
[The Brevity of Genesis]	391	(1)
From a sermon preached before King Charles 1 (April 1629)	392	(1)
[Small Stars]	392	(1)
[Made of Nothing]	392	(1)
[The Devil Shall Not Know Me From God]	392	(1)
From a sermon preached on Christmas Day 1629	393	(2)
[Men Less Than Worms]	393	(1)
[Stones May Live]	394	(1)
[Standing Mute]	394	(1)
From a sermon preached on Candlemas Day (2 February, year unknown)	395	(1)
[What Good Works Are]	395	(1)
From an undated sermon preached at St Paul's	396	(1)
[Man God's Enemy]	396	(1)
From an undated sermon preached before Charles 1 at Whitehall	397	(1)
[Tyranny of the Roman Church]	397	(1)
From a sermon preached before King Charles 1 (12 February 1629)	398	(2)
[A Secular Glass]	398	(1)
[Heart-Melting]	398	(2)
From a sermon preached on Easter Day 1630	400	(1)
[Women in the Image of God]	400	(1)
[Inattentive Prayer]	400	(1)
From a sermon preached before King Charles 1 (April 1630?)	400	(1)
[Against Extempore Prayer]	400	(1)
Death's Duel. Preached before King Charles 1 (25 February 1631)	401	(18)
Notes	419	(61)
Further Reading	480	(1)
Index of Titles and First Lines	481