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영어

This paper aims to examine how Donne develops and innovates the tradition of the devotional genre in the Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1624). While the Devotions does refer closely to his personal and intimate experience of serious illness, it does not limit its scope to the issue of sickness. Donne’s illness calls for interpretation and gives him an opportunity for writing a commentary on the subject of death and decay. Donne demonstrates his intellectual and spiritual capacity by skillfully expanding the contemplation to topics of death and conditions of humankind. Therefore, Donne’s Devotions is the result not only of reflection on his personal experience, but of his contemplation on the conditions of human beings. Donne structured his works to reflect this concept properly, by shifting between the singular voice which implies personal conditions and the plural voice which refers to humanity. Donne’s Devotions demonstrates notable traits of contemporary prayers and meditation works through proactive interaction with Scripture and exposure of his personal weaknesses and faults. There are 23 Devotions in the work, each consisting of Meditation, Expostulation, and Prayer. A hermeneutic lies behind the writing of the work of devotion, and Donne’s use of Scripture in the Expostulation involves innovations in the devotional genre.