John
Donne (1572-1631)
Of
the English literati, one of the “metaphysical poets”
Recently
I read some of John Donne’s sonnets, frankly, my first serious exposure to the
work of this erudite man who churned language through the domain of his own
expansive thought, and left a collection that sears one’s sensibilities on
first reading….
In
this particular instance, some of his sonnets were selected to amplify the rapture of the Stations of the Cross in an Episcopal service
on Good Friday.
Some
excerpts:
“What
if this present were the worlds last night?”
(Sonnet 13)
“I durst not view heaven yesterday . . .” (Sonnet 19)
“
‘Twas much, that man was made like God before,
But,
that God should be made like man, much more.”
(Sonnet 15)
The
words of John Donne are somber, lush, impeccably vital language, relentless
rhyme, stinging imagery….
I
expect I’ll come back to Donne’s sonnets.
(All
citations are from the Westmoreland manuscript.)
No comments:
Post a Comment