Donne, John (1572-1631)

John Donne -- from The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge

Donne, John (1572-1631) -- from Wikipedia Article

Death's Duel

Description: This sermon, the last one Donne gave, was later described as his own funeral sermon. It portrays life as a slow descent into sickness and death, yet points towards the hope of redemption, salvation, and resurrection. As Donne battled illness towards his life's end, death remained a constant theme of both his pastoral and poetic works, including his classic Holy Sonnet X, “Death Be Not Proud.” While some, such as Samuel Johnson and John Dryden, have criticized Donne's work for being dry and passionless, Donne consistently wrote and spoke on matters deeply personal to him. In this sermon, at least, the then dying Donne's passion is clearly evident.

Kathleen O'Bannon
CCEL Staff

John Donne's Devotions

Description: This volume of John Donne's writings begins with a biography of John Donne's life, as told by Donne's writer friend, Izaak Walton. Walton gives readers a close look at Donne's past, which was plagued with the loss of many close family members. This biographical information helps readers to make better sense of the somber devotions contained in this volume. In his Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, Donne concentrates on the miserable condition of man and the inevitability of death. The devotions are all structured the same, each beginning with a meditation followed by an expostulation and a prayer. These devotions serve as a preview for Donne's "Death's Duel Sermon," written near his death in 1631 as his funeral sermon. While "Death's Duel" paints a grave picture of earthly life tormented by pain and death, it hopes for a bright future in God's love through Christ's resurrection and ascension. Praised for his literary talent, Donna provides Christians with an introspective look at the nature of morality. It is from the great works in this collection that we find the origin of well-known phrases "For whom the bell tolls" and "No man is an island."

Emmalon Davis
CCEL Staff Writer

John Donne's Sermon Preached at the Spital

Description: Most people who know the name “John Donne” remember the man for his poetry. During his lifetime, however, Donne had achieved fame for his sermons, and he expected they would remain his claim to fame as the centuries passed. Donne delivered this sermon at the Priory of St. Mary Without Bishopgate, a hospital and almshouse founded in 1197. Every year since the 14th century, a prominent English clergyman has come to the hospital to give a sermon, often on the topic of the Resurrection or the spread of Truth. In 1622, Donne spoke on learning the truth of God’s glory. To acquiring this great knowledge, he said, one must first learn that all the glory of the world is a “mere nothing.” Readers of Donne will recognize in this sermon the same theme of the tension between worldliness and spirituality they find throughout his poetry.

Kathleen O’Bannon
CCEL Staff

Sermon Preached to the Lords upon Easter-day, at the Communion

Description: Most people who know the name “John Donne” remember the man for his poetry. During his lifetime, however, Donne had achieved fame for his sermons, and he expected they would remain his claim to fame as the centuries passed. Donne’s 1619 Easter sermon would later become one of his greatest achievements in spite of the fact that he had to give it on very short notice. At the time, King James I was ill enough that many feared for his life. When Donne delivered his sermon to the English nobility, his message about the inevitability of death fell on sympathetic ears. The sermon may remind readers of Donne’s poetry of one of the poet’s best-known sonnets, “Death Be Not Proud.”

Kathleen O’Bannon
CCEL Staff