Devotions upon Emergent Occasions

by John Donne

This volume of John Donne's writings begins with a biography of John Donne's life, as told by Donne's writer friend, Izaak Walton. Walton gives readers a close look at Donne's past, which was plagued with the loss of many close family members. This biographical information helps readers to make better sense of the somber devotions contained in this volume. In his Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, Donne concentrates on the miserable condition of man and the inevitability of death. The devotions are all structured the same, each beginning with a meditation followed by an expostulation and a prayer. These devotions serve as a preview for Donne's "Death's Duel Sermon," written near his death in 1631 as his funeral sermon. While "Death's Duel" paints a grave picture of earthly life tormented by pain and death, it hopes for a bright future in God's love through Christ's resurrection and ascension. Praised for his literary talent, Donna provides Christians with an introspective look at the nature of morality. It is from the great works in this collection that we find the origin of well-known phrases "For whom the bell tolls" and "No man is an island."

Emmalon Davis
CCEL Staff Writer

This edition features an artistic cover, a new promotional introduction, an index of scripture references, links for scripture references to the appropriate passages, and a hierarchical table of contents which makes it possible to navigate to any part of the book with a minimum of page turns.

Genres: Nonfiction, Classics, Christian, Christianity, Poetry, Philosophy, History

150 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1624

About the author

John Donne was an English poet, preacher and a major representative of the metaphysical poets of the period. His works are notable for their realistic and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, satires and sermons. His poetry is noted for its vibrancy of language and inventiveness of metaphor, especially as compared to that of his contemporaries.

Despite his great education and poetic talents, he lived in poverty for several years, relying heavily on wealthy friends. In 1615 he became an Anglican priest and, in 1621, was appointed the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London.

Reviews

[Brian Eshleman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Christians, this is NOT just a guy you read in high school English. No man is an island. The bell tolls. Blah, blah. NEXT!

Getting a peek into his candid, vulnerable, vibrant prayer life, an authentic man of faith jumps off the page and through the centuries. Donne is a man, as the Scripture says of Elijah, who was made of the same stuff we are. Particularly as a person who has both a disability for which God's grace is sufficient and the gift of faith which often enables me to strut while sitting in a wheelchair, I was touched by how many of these precious, confident, grateful prayers came from a body that was sick to the point of disability.

[Michael Morris · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Donne’s Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions is difficult to read for a number of reasons. First is the language of the 1600s. That would be little problem for good readers if not for the second reason: Donne's penchant for extended metaphors. A third problem concerns references to a Bible few Christians are familiar with. The fourth is the combination of subject matter and the sense that Donne did not seem to be writing for a particular audience. Despite these issues, or perhaps in part because of them, this is a book worth reading.

Of course, what makes the Devotions most valuable is its painful and moving rumination on sickness and death. Donne contemplates mortality, but also the similarities between physical and spiritual disease. It is difficult to read statements like, “I must be poor and want before I can exercise the virtue of gratitude; miserable, and in torment, before I can exercise the virtue of patience” on their own, but they lead to, “To hear thy steps coming towards me is the same comfort as to see thy face present with me; whether thou do the work of a thousand years in a day, or extend the work of a day to a thousand years, as long as thou workest, it is light and comfort.” There is a good deal of learning in these passages, but not all of that education came from books.

One doesn't have to be a Christian to find hope and comfort in Donne's prose. Though I'm a Christian (and Episcopalian) I must point out there are moments where the author’s theology is suspect. These instances are minor, however, and do not overshadow the power of these meditations.

Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions is often paired with “Death’s Duel,” Donne's final sermon, which addresses similar themes. I wish it wasn't. While there is some to recommend it, the piece is the kind of rambling, cut and paste hodgepodge of scripture and long winded jabbering that reminds me of many of the reasons I don't go to academic conferences. One can pass on it, and not miss much.

[David Redden · Rating 4 out of 5]

A series of reflections by 17th century poet and Anglican priest, John Donne, during a serious illness, which in those days could have taken his life. It's more interesting and inspirational than you would think. Donne appears to have believed in all sorts of things that we no longer tend to believe, like a literal Adam and Eve, humoralist medicine, and physical illness as a manifestation of spiritual sickness (e.g., God sends me gout once a year to help me repent. Which, by the way, doesn't help, at least not if cursing to ease the terrible pain counts as a sin). But at the time he wrote this, he was also a big believer in communion with other people and with God, which makes him so lovable. It was fascinating and instructive to watch Donne work out his issues with God. Plus he has what I would call a literary view of scripture and the life of the church that I find very appealing.

[Carlos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sin emular la obra homónima de Marco Aurelio (en este libro no hallaremos consolación ni una guía práctica para sobrellevar nuestra mundanidad), los fragmentos escritos por este excelso poeta poseen una fuerza atrayente y subyugante. Como señala Vicente Campos, “las imágenes de Donne son intensas y perdurables, no iluminan fugazmente, como fuegos artificiales, sino que persisten como bengalas sobre un campo de una batalla que todos sabemos perdida de antemano”.
Tan sólo el fragmento de la decimoséptima meditación, usado por Hemingway como epígrafe de su novela “Por quién doblan las campanas”, basta para reconocer su potencia poética.

[Fred Jenkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read about half of this. It is not a bad book, it just doesn't work for me right now. The mostly unmodified sixteenth century English is certainly not more work that reading Latin or French, it is more the style of discourse and outlook. The book is a series of triads: meditation, expostulation, and prayer, written when Donne was perilously ill. It is largely a tissue of biblical quotations interwoven with Donne's own reflections on his illness and mortality and his relation to God.

[Osmany Cruz Ferrer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Le daría más estrellas al libro si no pretendiera ser un devocional. Es un libro lleno de dilucidaciones sobre la enfermedad y la muerte pero siempre en un tono gris, autoconmiserativo. Es un libro lleno de melancolía y desconsuelo, no vi devoción, solo resignación y hastío. La enfermedad y la muerte son las protagonistas omnipresentes, la vida no se celebra en el libro, solo el final de la misma. Prefiero que la muerte me encuentre optimista, esa es la mejor manera de enfrentarla para quitarle sus ínfulas de omnipotencia.

«¿Dónde está, oh muerte, tu aguijón? ¿Dónde, oh sepulcro, tu victoria?»
‭‭1 Corintios‬ ‭15:55‬

[Claudia · Rating 3 out of 5]

“morimos y no podemos gozar de la muerte porque morimos en este tormento de la enfermedad”
ha sido intenso

[Gabriela Vignati · Rating 5 out of 5]

Habitamos un tubo de carne que encierra al alma y la mente. Debemos pagar diariamente por el uso de este vehículo para transitar el mundo –invirtiendo mucho tiempo y recursos en cuidarlo y alimentarlo−, pero sin que ese aporte a nuestra propia subsistencia demore la inevitable y lenta descomposición. En cualquier momento ataca la enfermedad y hasta ahí llega el hombre.

Tal era el pensamiento de John Donne en el invierno de 1623. Padecía una grave enfermedad en una época en la que la ciencia médica era bastante rudimentaria. Mucho, mucho antes de la invención de las penicilinas.

Las Devociones de Donne relatan las inquietantes etapas de una enfermedad que consume poco a poco el cuerpo y la mente. En ellas, además de plegarias y fervorosos debates con Dios, se hallan meditaciones sobre la condición humana –confinada en este saco de sangre y huesos de naturaleza dañina, pronta a derrumbarse– y el origen de la miseria y la melancolía, padecimientos del espíritu que multiplican los del cuerpo, haciéndonos partícipes de nuestra propia ruina.

«[…] somos no solamente pasivos, sino también activos, en nuestra propia destrucción; ¿pero qué he hecho yo, sea para engendrar, sea para respirar esos vapores? Me dicen que se deben a mi melancolía; ¿infundí yo, bebí yo melancolía de mí mismo? Es mi condición de meditativo; ¿no fui hecho para pensar? Es mi estudio; ¿no me inclina a él mi vocación? Nada he hecho voluntariamente, perversamente, para ello, y sin embargo, debo sufrirlo, morir de ello; hay demasiados ejemplos de hombres que han sido sus propios verdugos».

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The poet, pastor and prophet John Donne wrote this series of devotions on the occasion of his own illness. The contemplation of this "emergent" crisis in his life led him to produce a series of profound and thought provoking reflections written in splendid prose. Perhaps best known is devotion XVII ("Nunc Lento Sonitu, Dicunt, Morieris"), containing the well known reflection on "for whom the bell tolls." The reflection is all the more meaningful when one realizes that the bed-ridden Donne feared his own death as he listened to the death knell being tolled for another. Of course, Donne is not always an easy read, and some of his reflections are obscured by his seventeenth century understanding of human physiology and by the medical terminology of his day.

[M. M. J. Miguel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Devociones, de Jonh Donne, es un diario que se pasea por el dolor, la muerte y la melancolía. Las reflexiones del autor describirán su paso por la enfermedad, y cómo esta es catalizadora para indagar, penetrar y categorizar en la fragilidad del propio cuerpo y de la vida misma como fenómeno terrenal y divino. Una elegía a la humildad, en dado caso.

[Skylar Burris · Rating 2 out of 5]

I much prefer Donne's sermons to his devotions. These were rather dry, and I had a hard time pressing through them. The best parts were the prayers, and I used them for a sort of prayer time myself. I made it two-thirds of the way through and then jumped ship.

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is perhaps my favorite piece of prose writing.

[John]

Enjoyable prose. Profound reflections on sickness, death, and sin. Longest sentences since the apostle Paul!

[Brad · Rating 4 out of 5]

A variety of readers - none of whom were unintelligible, so that's good.

A worthwhile listen.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

it was ok. heavy. kinda repetitive after a point. this guy is basically Job from the bible.

[Lorenzo Gomez oviedo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Extrañísimo libro. Algunos de sus sermones delirantes llegan a rincones inimaginables.

[Rafa Arjona]

Me lo terminé hace un tiempo pero estaba guardándome para hacer una Buena reseña pero bueno.

Es realmente espectacular la modernidad de este libro del siglo XVI que dice cosas tan sorprendentes como que ningún hombre es una isla o que la mujer no necesitaba de un tercero para sufrir, sino que el hombre ya le proporcionaba ese pesar.

Muy recomendable sobre todo a aquellos que se encuentren inmersos en una enfermedad larga...

[Dylan Sage · Rating 1 out of 5]

if i could give this a zero, i would. i will never forgive the grad professor who just made me read 153 pages of 17th century church sermons.

[chloe · Rating 3 out of 5]

john donne whipping out a whole book whilst deathly ill… he would’ve loved writing fanfic on ao3

[Regine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four hundred years is a long time, but John Donne had a wonderfully muscular way with words. His Meditations during a serious illness ponder the same questions that would trouble us if we were facing the possibility of death. His Expostulations address God with passionate conviction but also with humility. His Prayers are fervent, imbued with the power of faith.

And of course, it was good to understand the context for the part of his devotions that still echoes today: “No man is an Iland, intire of it selfe; every man is a peece of the Continent, a part of the maine;… any mans death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankinde; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for thee.”

[Jopa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Difícil prueba de lectura, pero ¡qué gran placer produce seguir estas meditaciones! Tal vez por su estilo, convenga leer no más de dos capítulos por vez. Las reflexiones sobre la enfermedad y su curación son pequeños magisterios filosóficos y literarios profundos.Recomendable.

[Lara Lleverino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent reading for during a pandemic

[Rae Beeler · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Wessel]

I really like his style of poetry and writing. Did not know any of his poems apart from the famous 'no man is an island', but overall really interesting.