The Cambridge Companion to John Donne

*****
An excellent overview 28 Oct 2007

The Cambridge Companions series really is a godsend to anyone looking for a well edited, thorough, and yet also manageable guide to an author's output, and this Companion to John Donne is as good as any I have used to date. The 16 essays cover all the ground one would expect of a volume such as this, including a useful biography, and thematic overviews of the main areas of his writing. The quality of the contributors is very high indeed (only Judith Sherer Herz, in her postmodern take on "Reading and rereading Donne's poetry", allows herself to slip into the jargon (and consequent sloppiness of thought) of Lit.Crit.

There are, however, some gems on offer here, and the book is worth the purchase alone for A.S. Byatt's wonderful meditation on Donne which concludes the volume. Somehow it seems right that the final word on a great poet should be given to a writer of great sensitivity and thoughtfulness, rather than an English Professor with a sharpened pen and a department to run.

This is clearly aimed at undergraduates and above: if you are doing Donne for your A-levels then I suggest the York Notes volume would suit you better, but for anyone studying or teaching the great man, this is an indispensable starting point for reflection and research.