"No man is an island"

Do you know who said this? Most people don't. It was the poet John Donne. He was described by C. S. Lewis as the "saddest and most uncomfortable of our poet" in contrast to T. S. Eliot who said "[a] thought to Donne was an experience; it modified his sensibility."

This series will explore the poetry of John Donne with the aim that you can decide whose view is right.

This episode provides an overview of Donne's life, the context for his poems.