The Enfranchisement of the ‘In-Mate Soule’: Self-Knowledge and Death in Donne’s Anniversaries
The paradoxical nature of John Donne’s treatment of self-knowledge is nowhere more apparent than in two of his most important long poems, which are known as the Anniversaries. Why does Donne variously present self-knowledge as a near impossibility, a defining attribute, a valuable (if, in some cases...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
2010
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| In: |
Literature and theology
Year: 2010, Volume: 24, Issue: 4, Pages: 313-330 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | The paradoxical nature of John Donne’s treatment of self-knowledge is nowhere more apparent than in two of his most important long poems, which are known as the Anniversaries. Why does Donne variously present self-knowledge as a near impossibility, a defining attribute, a valuable (if, in some cases, unattractive) good, and a virtue? Here, I suggest that a consideration of Donne’s treatment of self-knowledge is essential for an understanding of his reflections on the relationship between body and soul in the Anniversaries. I argue that The Second Anniversarie may be read as both a portrait of resistance to the parting of body and soul in death, as well as an account of the soul’s enfranchisement and growth in self-knowledge through the same event. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4623 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Literature and theology
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/litthe/frq040 |