John Donne: The Holy Sonnets

Abstract

Tracing only the ideas and images found to be interesting or peculiar. I have make little attempt to completely explicate any one of the nineteen sonnets under consideration, The approach varies with the poem: occasionally I apply cultural norms and conventions to Donne's work, yet frequently I depend only upon the sonnet itself for understanding. What follows is a series of brief essays, arranged in accord with Grierson's system of numeration, and aimed simply at the illumination of a limited number of thoughts and themes.