Description

From joyful poems such as “The Flea”, which transforms the image of a louse into the intimate and intense Holy Sonnets, the author breathed vigour into poetry by drawing lucid and often startling metaphors from the world in which he lived.

John Donne (1572-1631) was the most outstanding of the English Metaphysical Poets and a churchman famous for his spellbinding sermons.

Ilona Bell is Professor of English Literature at Williams College, Massachusetts. She has published widely on Renaissance literature and is the author of several books on Donne, his courtship, and his love poetry.