John Donne and the Seventeenth-century Metaphysical Poets

Bloom's Modern Critical Views

by Harold Bloom

The poetry of John Donne, Andrew Marvell, George Herbert, Robert Herrick, Richard Crashaw, Henry Vaughan, and Thomas Traherne has fascinated critics for centuries. Ambivalently received but inescapably influential, their tradition can be traced through some of the best poets of our time. Examine these 17th-century English poets more closely.

This title, John Donne and 17th Century Poets, part of Chelsea House Publishers’ Modern Critical Views series, examines the major works of John Donne and 17th Century Poets through full-length critical essays by expert literary critics. In addition, this title features a short biography on John Donne and 17th Century Poets, a chronology of the author’s life, and an introductory essay written by Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, Yale University.

274 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1986

About the author

Harold Bloom was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was called "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking world." After publishing his first book in 1959, Bloom wrote more than 50 books, including over 40 books of literary criticism, several books discussing religion, and one novel. He edited hundreds of anthologies concerning numerous literary and philosophical figures for the Chelsea House publishing firm. Bloom's books have been translated into more than 40 languages. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1995.
Bloom was a defender of the traditional Western canon at a time when literature departments were focusing on what he derided as the "school of resentment" (multiculturalists, feminists, Marxists, and others). He was educated at Yale University, the University of Cambridge, and Cornell University.