John Donne’s Language of Disease reveals the influence of medical knowledge – a rapidly changing field in early modern England – on the poetry and prose of John Donne (1572–1631). This knowledge played a crucial role in shaping how Donne understood his everyday experiences, and how he conveyed those experiences in his work. Examining a wide range of his texts through the lens of medical history, this study contends that Donne was both a product of his period and a remarkable exception to it. He used medical language in unexpected and striking ways that made his ideas resonate with his original audience and that still illuminate his ideas for readers today.
Conventions and Notes
Introduction: Exploring Donne’s Dynamic Comparisons
PART I
1 More Than Skin Deep: Dissecting Donne’s Imagery of Humours
2 Cures and Currency in Donne’s Letters to Patrons
3 Swollen Desires: Dropsy and Donne’s Writing
PART II
4 ‘We May Have Recourse’: Describing Illness in Donne’s Devotions
5 ‘Sinfull Inough to Infect’: Donne’s Imagery of Contagion
6 ‘Holy Perfume’: The Fragrance of Cures in Donne’s Sermons
Conclusion: ‘How Lame a Picture’: Depicting the Sick Body
Bibliography
Index
Biography
Alison Bumke is Assistant Professor of Seventeenth-Century Literature and Drama at the University of Nottingham.
