John Donne: Man of Flesh and Spirit

John Donne is best known as England's poet of love -- but he was much else besides. He was also a peerless writer of the spiritual journey, a stalwart churchman, and a great preacher. Yet behind this famed public face there also lived a lesser known tortured and contradictory figure.

This extraordinary biography paints a compelling new portrait of Donne as a man of both spirit and flesh. David Edwards ranges across all of Donne's writings, including critically neglected sermons, using them to illuminate Donne's life and vice versa. Itself a masterpiece of writing, this book challenges common views with wit and a critical compassion that does not fail to let Donne speak to readers in his own words.