John Donne Man of Flesh and Spirit

Written by David L. Edwards Reviewed By James Palmer

David Edwards’ recent book, written for non-specialists, gives an account of the life and work of the English poet and preacher, John Donne. The first part of the book locates Donne in the literary and historical context of the late 16th and early 17th centuries and then gives an outline of his life (chs 1–4). It presents in short form much of the material to be found in R.C. Bald’s John Donne: A Life (2nd ed. OUP 1986) which remains the standard biography. The next two chapters look at some of the secondary literature on Donne starting with Walton’s Life. Chapter 6 is devoted to a critique of John Carey’s cynical and secular John Donne: Life, Mind and Art (Faber and Faber 1990) and P.M. Oliver’s Donne’s Religious Writing (Longman 1997). Carey holds that Donne was a cynical careerist who suffered psychologically throughout his life because of his ‘apostasy’ from the Roman church. The rest of the book examines Donne’s poems (chs 7 and 8), his relationship with his wife (ch. 9) and his sermons (ch. 10).

Donne was a complex and not wholly likable. character who can give the impression of being too clever and rather insensitive. Nevertheless, Edwards’ reading of Donne is sympathetic, though he is far from an unqualified admiration of his subject (viii). Edwards is a liberal Anglican (Episcopalian) minister who finds much in the Christianity of the reformation period (including Donne’s) distasteful. This is especially clear in chapter 10 where for instance Edwards notes apologetically that ‘Donne treated himself and all who listened to him as sinners’ (336) and views Donne’s sermons on hell as regrettable rants (342). Edwards also repeatedly criticises ‘the joyless creed of Calvinism’ (57) which he sees as ‘cruel’ (319). This hostility towards orthodox Protestantism (mixed with occasional error) is the least satisfactory aspect of the book, though a basic knowledge of the Reformation period is enough to be able to correct Edwards’ caricatures. Extraordinarily, Edwards claims that the OT contradicts Copernicus’ view that the earth moves round the sun (180).

Should you read a book about John Donne? Edward’s book is encouraging in that it shows (incidentally) that evangelicals are part of the mainstream of the church whereas modern liberals (like Edwards) have to rewrite the script in several vital places. Further, Donne’s life can be read as an example of God’s grace transforming an imperfect man: his early sexual (pornographic?) poetry giving way to his later Holy Sonnets. However, this is probably a book to borrow rather than buy.


James Palmer

Cambridge