DEVOTIONS UPON EMERGENT OCCASIONS - Together with DEATH'S DUEL - John Donne

'Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions; Together with Death's Duel' is a 1624 prose wo rk by the English writer John Donne, who dedicated it to the future King Charles I. It is a series of reflections that were written as Donne recovered from a serious illness, believed to be either typhus or relapsing fever. (Donne does not clearly identify the disease in his text.) He describes this as a 'preternatural birth, in returning to life, from this sickness'. The work consists of twenty-three parts ('devotions') describing each stage of the sickness. Each part is further divided into a Meditation, an Expostulation, and a Prayer.

This series of meditations on illness were published following John Donne's sickness during late November and early December of 1623 (when he either had typhus or relapsing fever). Each of his ruminations are recorded in groups of three: meditation, expostulation, and prayer. Donne's insights about the 'variable, therefore miserable condition of man' will always be pertinent as long as humans continue to fall prey to disease. The reading is a little slow at times, but there are some fine pieces in this book, including his famous meditation XVII, 'No man is an island', that Hemingway quoted when he wrote FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS. Even if you don't read all of the essays, this book is worth obtaining just to pore over meditation XVII.