Based on an exhaustive study of the manuscripts and printed editions in which these poems have appeared, the eighth in the series of The Variorum Edition of the Poetry of John Donne presents newly edited critical texts of thirteen Divine Poems and details the genealogical history of each poem, accompanied by a thorough prose discussion. Arranged chronologically within sections, the material is organized under the following headings: Dates and Circumstances; General Commentary; Genre; Language, Versification, and Style; the Poet/Persona; and Themes. The volume also offers a comprehensive digest of general and topical commentary on the Divine Poems from Donne's time through 2012.


"The appearance of the first volume . . . is an occasion for celebration. Among the most ambitious and valuable collaborative scholarly enterprises at the end of the twentieth century . . . " —Claude J. Summers, Early Modern Literary Studies

" . . . especially valuable for its wide-ranging and reliable summaries of textual and critical commentary on these works . . . This variorum edition will be the basis of all future Donne scholarship." —Bibliotèque d'Humanisme et Renaissance

" . . . the most important collaborative project in 17th-century studies in recent history . . . " —Seventeenth-Century News

A major editorial and interpretive undertaking, this edition includes a newly edited critical text based on exhaustive study of all known manuscripts and significant printed editions of Donne's poetry and a complete digest of critical and scholarly commentary on the poetry from Donne's time to the present.


Volume 5 of The Variorum Edition of the Poetry of John Donne (Verse Letters) provides the most authoritative texts of the poems that Donne wrote in this genre. It includes complete textual introductions and apparatuses for each of the 42 poems in the volume. In addition, the volume contains comprehensive summaries, along with notes and glosses, of everything written on these poems from Donne's time through 2013.


Based on an exhaustive study of the manuscripts and printed editions in which these poems have appeared, the fifth volume in the series of The Variorum Edition of the Poetry of John Donne presents newly edited critical texts of the five canonical satires and "Metempsychosis" and details the genealogical history of each accompanied by a thorough prose discussion. The analysis contained in the volume shows that Donne revised each of the poems and explains how readings from the competing versions were intermingled in the early editions and transmitted to subsequent generations. The volume also presents a comprehensive organized digest of the critical-scholarly commentary on these poems from Donne's time through 2001.


This book presents a comprehensive digest of general and topical commentary on John Donne's Songs and Sonets from the early 17th century through 1999. Arranged chronologically within sections, the material in the present volume is organized under the following chapter headings: General Commentary; Autobiography and Persona; Critical Reception; Dating, Publication History, and Manuscript Tradition; Donne's Originality: Praise and Blame; Dramatic Elements; T. S. Eliot; Imagery; Language and Rhetoric; Love and Sexual Imagery; Mannerism and Baroque; Medievalism; Paradox; Petrarchism; Platonism; Psychological Analysis; Religion; Science and the New Learning; Versification; Wit and Metaphysical Conceit; Women.


This book was begun under the direction of Albert C. Labriola, who served as the Volume Commentary Editor until his death in March 2009. Completed by his students and colleagues with the Variorum project, the volume is dedicated to Professor Labriola's memory.


This volume, the ninth in the series of The Variorum Edition of the Poetry of John Donne, presents newly edited critical texts of 25 love lyrics. Based on an exhaustive study of the manuscripts and printed editions in which these poems have appeared, Volume 4.2 details the genealogical history of each poem, accompanied by a thorough prose discussion, as well as a General Textual Introduction of the Songs and Sonets collectively. The volume also presents a comprehensive digest of the commentary on these Songs and Sonets from Donne's time through 1999. Arranged chronologically within sections, the material for each poem is organized under various headings that complement the volume's companions, Volume 4.1 and Volume 4.3.


This tenth, and final, volume in the series of The Variorum Edition of the Poetry of John Donne presents newly edited critical texts of 32 love lyrics. Based on an exhaustive study of the manuscripts and printed editions in which these poems have appeared, Volume 4.3 details the genealogical history of each poem, accompanied by a thorough prose discussion. The volume also presents a comprehensive digest of the commentary on these Songs and Sonets from Donne's time through 1999. Arranged chronologically within sections, the material for each poem is organized under various headings that complement the volume's companions, Volume 4.1 and Volume 4.2.