John Donne in the Time of COVID

An Analysis of Devotions upon Emergent Occasions

Mary Ann Antley

• Publisher: Resource Publications
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN:
  9781666753790
  9781666753806
• eBook ISBN:
  9781666753813
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

In 1623 John Donne, dean of Saint Paul's Cathedral in London, suddenly fell ill of a pestilential illness. He took notes during this near fatal illness and published them as Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions in 1624. It is in the context of devotional literature that this book has formerly been studied. If, however, the work is read with specific attention focused on the dynamics of Donne's psychological responses to a serious illness, it may be seen to be the powerful dramatic presentation of his struggle for emotional and spiritual survival following the disruption of a previously accepted value system. Our population today has experienced many of these feelings in facing illness, isolation, and death during the course of COVID-19. We are all Donne. He gives us a voice from four hundred years in the past.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Prologue: The Illness: Subjectively and Objectively Presented
• Part I: The Emotional States Experienced by John Donne During A Critical Illness and Convalescence
• Part II: The Structure of the Devotions: Adaptation to Change
• Part III: Psychological, Sociological, Theological, and Psychoanalytical Studies Suggested by the Identification of Donne’s Emotional States During Illness
• Epilogue:: The Experience: Objectively and Subjectively Perceived
• Appendix 1 : Major Poems and Prose
• Appendix 2: Three Letters from John Donne
• Appendix 3: John Donne’s Mother, Elizabeth Heywood Donne
• Appendix 4: John Donne’s Father, the elder John Donne, Ironmonger
• Appendix 5: Copernicus and Galileo Galilei
• Author’s Short Bio
• Bibliography