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Type of bind: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 242.4
EAN num: 9780375705489
ISBN number: 0375705481
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Quantity: 1
Page Count: 272
Printing Date: September 01, 1999
Publishing house: Vintage
Release Date: December 07, 1999
Sale Popularity Level: 174928
Studio: Vintage
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Product Description:
John Donne (1572-1631) is best known as the greatest English metaphysical poet. But there was another dimension to Donne's life and writing that, if less well known, is no less profound and beautiful.
Born into an aristocratic Catholic family, Donne joined the Church of England at the age of twenty-one out of fear of persecution. At the age of forty-three, he gave up his preoccupations with secular prestige and devoted himself utterly to religion. It was eight years later when, battered with fever, the deaths of his beloved wife, several of his children, and many dear lifelong friends, he composed Devotions upon Emergent Occasions. There is both trauma and great drama in this extended meditation on the meaning of mortality, the possibility of salvation, and the true nature of the passage of eternal life. With a new introduction by poet and biographer Andrew Motion, one of the most revered books of Christian devotion speaks to us again of the higher aspirations of man and the always-present possibility of a relationship with God.
This long out of print edition also contains Donne's last sermon, 'Death's Duel' as well as the short colorful biography of him written by his contemporary Izaak Walton.
Amazon.com Review:
Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions and Death's Duel, one of the handsome series of Vintage Spiritual Classics, contains a rich collection of extraordinary writings, any one of which would be worth the price of the whole book. Andrew Motion's clear, accessible, entertaining, and erudite introduction explains the situation of both Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions--written in 1624, when Donne was feeble with a fever that doctors believed might kill him--and Death's Duel--Donne's final sermon at St. Paul's Cathedral, preached only a month before his death at age 59. Also included is Izaak Walton's The Life of Dr. John Donne, a spry and penetrating biography of the poet, written in 1640. And then there is the meat: both Devotions and Death's Duel show Donne at his very best--theatrical, humble, faithful, and doubting all at once. This is a book of severe and joyful mortality. Here is a foretaste from Devotions: 'Death is in an old man's door, he appears and tells him so, and death is at a young man's back, and says nothing.... There is scarce anything that hath not killed somebody; a hair, a feather hath done it; nay, that which is our best antidote against it hath done it; the best cordial hath been deadly poison.' --Michael Joseph Gross
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Rated by buyers 
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I must admit that I bought this book solely for the most famous of Donne's Meditations - Nunc lento sonitu dicunt, morieris, AKA "no man is an island". I was unaware of the circumstances which surrounded Donne's writing of the Meditations. He had taken ill with a strong and high fever, and believed that he was dying. The meditations trace his spiritual journey through his illness, starting with the beginning (The very first alteration, the very first grudging, or the sickness), through attempts to treat him (The physician is sent for), to treatments (They apply pigeons, to draw the vapors from the head - yuck!), until he comes to terms spiritually with his fate (From the bells of the church adjoining, I am daily remembered of my burial in the funerals of others).
These meditations make a fascinating contrast with the other work by Donne in this book: Death's Duel. This was the last sermon that Donne ever preached, one month before he died. Not only did he know that the end was near, but so did his audience, who called it "the doctor's funeral sermon". It is interesting to see how Donne's view of death had changed in the years between the two works. By the time Death's Duel was written, Donne's mother, wife, and six of his twelve children were already dead.
In spite of the fact that Donne wrote over three hundred years ago, I am still influenced by his writings. Although I am not Christian, I agree with many of Donne's thoughts on how people interact with each other, and how we effect the lives of others, though we might not realise it. "Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind." Donne, though dead, is still involved in mankind, and this book aptly displays it.
Rated by buyers 
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for this book,devotions upon emergent occasions and deaths duel has already been so good. Wow! what more can i possibly say....alot. firstly, fascinating stuff. it was really great and jesus Christ we love him, John Donne? WOW?!! what do you think? read it really it is very nicely proportionate for me the dimensions where spectacular and also a very nice size, John Donne? Where in the world is John Donne when we need him now....bye John Donne?
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