Student Guide to John Donne

The purpose of this series is to promote the study of writing in the English language through the introduction of the major figures writing in English throughout the ages. They provide an analytical and historical framework for understanding their subjects. Sean Haldane provides a vivid psychosexual analysis of one of the greatest of all English poets. John Donne's philosophical approach is known to be erotically charged - and surprisingly contemporary in its candid acknowledgement of the part that sex plays in the lives of men and women. This text explores Donne's use of the underlying ideas of his age in the formation and meaning of his poetry. He traces the development of the poet's ideas about love, ranging from lust to the constancy of love, and culminating on Donne's view of the divine.