Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions

About this book

Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions by John Donne text is offered here together with Death's Duel. Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, or in full Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, and severall steps in my Sicknes, is a prose work by the English metaphysical poet and cleric in the Church of England John Donne, published in 1624. It covers death, rebirth and the Elizabethan concept of sickness as a visit from God, reflecting internal sinfulness. The Devotions were written in December 1623 as Donne recovered from a serious but unknown illness - believed to be relapsing fever or typhus. Having come close to death, he described the illness he had suffered from and his thoughts throughout his recovery with "near super-human speed and concentration".[1] Registered by 9 January, and published soon after, the Devotions is one of only seven works attributed to John Donne which were printed during his lifetime. The Devotions is divided into 23 parts, each consisting of 3 sub-sections, called the 'meditation', the "expostulation' and a prayer. The 23 sections are chronologically ordered, each covering his thoughts and reflections on a single day of the illness. Famously, the 17th devotion, Meditation XVII, includes the phrases "No man is an Iland" (often modernised as "No man is an island") and "...for whom the bell tolls". The work as a whole is considered similar to 17th-century devotional writing generally, and particularly to Donne's Holy Sonnets. Some academics have also identified political strands running through the work, from a polemic Arminian denunciation of Puritanism to advice to the young Prince Charles. Donne was born in 1572 to a wealthy ironmonger and a warden of the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers, and his wife Elizabeth.[2] After his father's death when he was four, John Donne was trained as a gentleman scholar; his family used the money his father had made to hire tutors who taught him grammar, rhetoric, mathematics, history and foreign languages. Elizabeth remarried to a wealthy doctor, ensuring the family remained comfortable; as a result, despite being the son of an ironmonger and portraying himself in his early poetry as an outsider, Donne refused to accept that he was anything other than a gentleman.[3] After study at Hart Hall, Oxford, Donne's private education saw him study at Lincoln's Inn, one of the Inns of Court, where he occupied his time with history, poetry, theology and "Humane learning and languages".[4] It was at Lincoln's Inn that John Donne first began writing poetry, looking upon it as "a life-sign or minor irritation" rather than something that defined him. In November 1623, Donne fell seriously ill. London was the scene of a 'spotted' or relapsing fever, which hit its victims unexpectedly and left them conscious but physically helpless.[6] What disease Donne suffered from is not known. Writers have suggested typhus as a likely culprit, but Donne's writings on the subject reference multiple diseases. Clara Lander, writing in Studies in English Literature 1500-1900, suggests that the typhus may have exacerbated the enteritis Donne had suffered from since childhood.[7] Donne was of the opinion - as were many others of the age - that illness reflected a state of internal sinfulness, and constituted a visit from God.[8] Despite being ordered to rest, he insisted that a pen and paper be given to him, and he wrote down his impressions of the disease.[9] After his recovery, in December, these became Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, one of his few published prose works, [10] and also one of only seven printed works of which he acknowledged authorship.[11] Written with "near super-human speed and concentration", [1] the work was registered with the Stationers' Company by 9 January 1624.[1] It was published that year, and again in 1634 and 1638.[12] The full, albeit rarely used, title is Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, and severall steps in my Sicknes.