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John Donne and Monad, The Fold Hyunjoo Yoo (Yonsei University) The baroque refers to the era situated somewhere between the 17th and 18th centuries. Since the baroque experienced radical social, cultural, political and economical transformations, it can be defined as ‘periods of crisis' or ‘moments of transition,' and ‘the space for inaugurating new beginnings.' Both John Donne (1572-1631) and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) lived in this transhistorical, transcultural era called the baroque. Although it is not sure whether they both knew each other's existence then, John Donne's poems can be said to be closely related to Leibniz's ‘Monad' philosophy. That is because they share the baroque mentality and sensibility, such as ‘monad individuals', ‘a perfect correspondence between the microcosm and the macrocosm', ‘reconciliation between body and soul', ‘preference for variety, diversity, change' and ‘emphasis on solidarity and harmony.' In fact, the contemporary society consists of monad individuals, which reminds us of the baroque individuals. Considering this aspect, this paper aims to associate John Donne's poems with the baroque philosopher Leibniz's Monadology and also the neo-baroque philosopher Gilles Deleuze's ‘Monad’ and ‘The Fold’ in order to enhance our understanding of the (neo-) baroque era. That is, the baroque should be considered not only as a phenomenon of the 17th but also, more broadly, as a transhistorical that has had wider historical repercussions. That might be why we need to still read John Donne's poems and look into our lives through his poems. As Deleuze writes of the “new baroque,” appreciating John Donne's poems, we can discover new way of our own folding, akin to new environment.