John Donne

Devotions upon Emergent Occasions is a 1624 prose work by the English writer John Donne, who dedicated it to the future King Charles I. It is a series of reflections that were written as Donne recovered from a serious illness, believed to be either typhus or relapsing fever. Nathaniel Hawthorne, the great American author, cunningly, informatively, and entertainingly recounts several stories in American history. each story is told by a grandfather...

Although the poet John Donne lived so long ago, some phrases from his writing still linger with us today, such as “no man is an island,” “death, be no proud,” and “for whom the bell tolls,” the last of which provided the title for one of Ernest Hemingway's novels. Donne used poems as a means of metaphysical inquiry and meditation, as well as for very sensual expression. His daringly original use of imagery and conceits to lead the mind...