This thesis explores John Donne's vision of the Apocalypse as revealed by his religious poetry and prose. Donne believed himself to be alive in the last age of the world; however, he rejected historicist interpretations of the Apocalypse. Instead, he located the conflict with sin and death within the individual soul. Donne was concerned to create an image of the sinful soul restored to unity with the divine through its own exertions and by God's grace, free from social and political constraints. The Apocalypse presented Donne with a paradigm of unity which he appropriated in order to represent the interconnexion of God and humankind, as well as to situate himself within a present unfolding of ultimate conformity. Knowledge of the role of the Apocalypse in Donne's self-presentation, provides an awareness of the extent to which Donne understood himself to be an active participant in the fulfilment of the Providential design.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.60624 |
| Date | January 1991 |
| Creators | Holmes, Michael M. (Michael Morgan) |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Department of English.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 001260118, proquestno: AAIMM72239, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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