“John Donne: A Critical Edition of the Major Works” edited by John Carey

“No man is an island.” “Death, be not proud.” “For whom the bell tolls.” You already know John Donne, even if you’ve never opened his books.

Donne was a poet, a soldier on raids against Spain, a secret husband who wrecked his career for love, and finally the most famous preacher in London as Dean of St. Paul’s. His poems leap from playful seduction to wrestling face to face with God. Few poets have ever written with such wit, heat and nerve.

This Oxford Authors volume gathers the best of him in one place: the love poems of Songs and Sonnets, the Elegies and Satires, the thundering Holy Sonnets, and his prose meditations and sermons. John Carey’s notes help you catch every clever turn.

This paperback is a treasure for any poetry lover’s shelf, waiting for you at Dead Tree Dreams.