John Donne's Sermons on the Psalms and Gospels: With a Selection of Prayers and Meditations

John Donne

University of California Press, 2003 - Literary Criticism - 244 pages

“John Donne’s verse and prose have had a remarkable renaissance in the twentieth century ad have been a vital influence on this century’s poets and prose writers. The glory of his prose at its best is very different from that of his verse, but is equal to it; and there can be no questions that his best prose is in his sermons.This selection of Donne’s sermons on the Psalms and Gospels has been made by Evelyn M. Simpson, one of the editors of the ten-volume collected sermons of John Donne, to introduce to a wider audience the majesty and power and variety of the poet’s sermons. Sometimes Donne preached as a poet, sometimes as a pastor, sometimes as a theologian, sometimes as a controversialist, and to many different types of congregations – to the parishioners of St. Dunstan’s, to the King and Court at Whitehall, to the citizenry of London at St. Paul’s – and wonderfully showed his power to adapt himself to each.Donne’s sense of form, his arrangement of his materials, his common sense, his shrewdness, his psychological insight, and his real religious fervor are readily apparent in these sermons. The differences of mood and emphasis within the rigid framework of the formal sermon make this selection interesting to the attentive reader. Donne was an artist in prose, and he knew the value of contrast and surprise, of imagery and literary artifice. He was a poet who did not lose his poetical imagination when he entered the pulpit. The impression of an amazingly vital personality, rich in mental and spiritual power will abide with the reader.” – Publisher

Contents

• INTRODUCTION: 1
• Psalms 11 3 The First Sermon Preached to King: 73
• Psalms 63 7 The Second Prebend Sermon preached: 94
• Luke 23 34 Preached to the Nobility undated: 115
• John 1 8 Preached at St Pauls upon Christmas: 129
• John 11 35 Preached at Whitehall the first Friday: 157
• Isaiah 7 14 and Matthew 1 23 Preached at: 178
• John 11 21 Preached at the Funeral of Sir William: 219
• PRAYERS AND MEDITATIONS: 241

About the author

Poet and churchman John Donne was born in London in 1572. He attended both the University of Oxford and the University of Cambridge, but did not receive a degree from either university. He studied law at Lincoln's Inn, London, in 1592, and was appointed private secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton, Keeper of the Great Seal, in 1598. He became an Anglican priest in 1615 and was appointed royal chaplain later that year. In 1621 he was named dean of St. Paul's Cathedral. Donne prepared for his own death by leaving his sickbed to deliver his own funeral sermon, "Death's Duel", and then returned home to have a portrait of himself made in his funeral shroud. He died in London on March 31, 1631.

Bibliographic information

• Title: John Donne's Sermons on the Psalms and Gospels: With a Selection of Prayers and Meditations
• Author: John Donne
• Editor: Evelyn M. Simpson
• Contributor: Evelyn M. Simpson
• Edition: reprint, revised
• Publisher: University of California Press, 2003
• ISBN: 0520239288, 9780520239289
• Length: 244 pages
• Subjects: Literary Criticism / European / English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh; Religion / Biblical Studies / General; Religion / Christianity / General; Religion / General; Religion / Prayerbooks / Christian; Religion / Sermons / Christian