A Selection of Divine Poems

John Donne (1572 - 1631)

John Donne was an English Jacobean preacher, sometime lawyer, later in life a Member of Parliament and Royal Chaplain. Marrying for love against the wishes of his influential father-in-law; Donne's career was cast into shadow: forcing him to support his wife, Anne, as best he might under a specter of unforgiving penury.

Despite such hardships - perhaps because of them - Donne's writings demonstrate a mastery of poetry layered with metaphysical meaning and mystery: which continues to delight and challenge modern-day readers. Donne's "divine poems" - the focus of this collection - present profound theological insights using absorbing allegories and beautiful imagery.

At the end of Donne's life - as his health deteriorated under illnesses of increasing severity - his poetry served him as: distraction, consolation, and even "public confession". With them, Donne cheerfully but soberly faces the limits of his own mortality: and contemplates the mysteries that lie beyond the grave.
(Introduction by Godsend)

Genre(s): Single author, Christianity - Other

Language: English

Section Chapter Reader Time
Play 01 Corona, La (The Cycle of 'The Crown') Nathan
00:06:56
Play 02 Holy Sonnets I to XIX (aka 'The Divine Meditations') Nathan
00:17:57
Play 03 Cross, The Nathan
00:04:14
Play 04 4 - Resurrection, Imperfect (or incomplete) Nathan
00:01:52
Play 05 Litany, The Nathan
00:17:34