Poems

Poems by John Donne, edited by Hugh I'Anson Fausset, 288 pages

John Donne is certainly remembered as one of the England's finest poets and essayists, but his era is sometimes regarded as a literary lull between the heights of Shakespeare and Milton.  Donne's early poems are primarily concerned with love, with a heavy emphasis on the changeable nature of human affections.  Later poems begin to circle around the royal court, with a heavy emphasis on the dishonesty of courtiers - and a substantial amount of flattery directed towards potential patrons.  Finally, the latest poems tend to be religious, with a certain confidence in divine grace.

Donne's language is often cryptic and sly, and this Everyman's Library edition of his poems contains no notes to help explicate the material.  His obseqiousness can be off-putting - even the tremendous "An Anatomy of the World" seems diminished by its identification of the death of a fourteen year old girl (albeit one with a very wealthy father) as the cause of universal dissolution.

Donne's poetry requires time and quiet to appreciate.  Even then many of them are undistinguished.  When the poet finds a worthy subject, however, his promise is fulfilled.