Giant in doubting-castle : the exoteric faith of John Donne

This study of Donne's religious poetry and prose is undertaken from the theoretical perspective of a "classical" or "esoteric" understanding of religious experience. That is to say, a "vertical" dimension of experience is added to the "horizontal" dimension of theological doctrine. By this methodology the phenomenological quality of religious faith is differentiated in the literature from the intellectual content of belief. The quality of Donne's religious experience, it is argued, places him in the "exoteric" realm, characterised by an emphasis on the dialectical supports of a belief-structure, rather than on the ontological or experiential guarantees of classical faith. Consequently, Donne's exoteric experience is also characterised by a certain degree and quality of doubt and anxiety discernible within the literature, often in places previously unsuspected. In Part I of this study the theoretical framework is presented. Also, the theological or biographical explanations usually advanced to explain Donne's religious insecurity are argued to be insufficient for a full explication of the literature. Part II involves an examination of the Sermons, with the intention of disclosing Donne's exoteric understanding of "faith" and its repercussions for critical analysis. Part III extends the investigation into all aspects of Donne's work, including the secular verse, to show the nature of Donne's sense of self, his attitude to the natural world, to the human body, and to death. Here the aetiology of Donne's state of mind is deduced from the literature, and the result integrated with a psychology of religious experience and development. Part IV involves an application of the view evolved in Parts I, II and III to some of the Divine Poems, such as "Goodfriday, 1613. Riding Westward; " the Holy Sonnets; and the late hymns.