Introduction: figuring things out: Donne's devotions upon emergent occasions -- Time and history. John Donne: the idea of decay -- A sense of the future: projected audiences of Donne and Jonson -- Love. John Donne -- "Oh, let mee not serve so": the politics of love in Donne's elegies -- Donne, Milton, and holy sex -- "The relique", the Song of songs, and Donne's songs and sonets -- Fear of "loving more": death and the loss of sacramental love -- Depersonalization, disappointment, and disillusion -- Religion. Donne's religion: Montagu, Arminianism, and Donne's sermons, 1624-1630 -- Donne's religious poetry and the trauma of grace -- Donne and apostasy -- Donne, Milton, Spinoza and toleration: a cross-confessional perspective.
