Holy Ambition: Rhetoric, Courtship, & Devotion in the Sermons of John Donne

The impression emerging from the modern of Donne's (1572-1631) sermons is of a preacher who delicately balanced personal conscience regarding his spiritual duty with the external demands of political authority. Though recognizing these cultural conditions, Nelson treats them not as limitations on his freedom as a preacher, but as part of the rhetorical resources that he found available to him in early 17th-century England. Donne was always aware of his public function as Dean of St. Paul's in London, he argues, but was also alert to his duty as a shepherd of individual souls. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)