Selected Letters: John Donne

Whether sharing his anxieties about writing, consoling bereaved friends, complaining about the meanness of a patron, or defending himself against malicious gossip, John Donne reveals himself in these letters with a directness that can be found nowhere else in his writings. The 95 included letters, dating from the late 1590s until a short time before Donne's death, constitute approximately half of his surviving correspondence and are addressed to a variety of recipients, revealing his role as not only a poet but as a father, son, husband, friend, suitor, courtier, and pastor. Although what the letters reveal is far from edifying, they corroborate the impression created by Donne's better-known writings that he was one of the most remarkable figures the English Renaissance produced.

John Donne was one of the most influential poets of the English Renaissance. P. M. Oliver is the author of Donne's Religious Writing.