A compelling new portrait of John Donne emerges in this extraordinary biography. 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. Edwards is not sentimental about Donne's faults and limitations, and he does not try to sound superior to either the poet or the preacher. His aim is to give a living and accurate account of a man who both suffered and gloried in his experience of flesh and spirit.