The Postmodernist Characteristics Of The Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions

As is well-known, John Donne (1572-1631) was a great metaphysical poet in Britain.But he had another identity which people seldom know, that is, the Dean of St. Paul’sCathedral in London, the highest priest in Britain in the17th century. His woks includenot only the metaphysical poetry, but also prayers and sermons. Prayer and sermon bothbelong to the religious prose. As the main creation of his later period, Donne’s religiousproses were the high-quality works of the English prose in the17th century.The Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (hereinafter refered to as Devotions) waswritten in the year of1623, when London was hit by a heavy plague and Donne wasalso infected with epidemic typhus. The process of the disease was swift and intense,and Donne nearly died of it. But, depending on his impregnable faith, he created thisimmortal work in his sickbed. Although Donne meditated from perspective of thereligious belief to elucidate religious doctrine, he conveyed his religious thought withthe poetic writing style. All of this made the book an excellent work of the Englishreligious prose, so it also has a very high literary value besides its outstanding value inreligious theology and psychology.As the founder of the metaphysical poetry in17th century in Britain and also animportant character of the English Renaissance, Donne was quick-minded, and he leftrich revelatory works to the later generations with his unique creative thinking andwriting mode. In this prose work, Donne used many literary techniques of thepostmodernism.Postmodernism is a very complicated literary phenomenon. This thesis endeavors tomake an analysis of this book from the perspective of the basic characteristics of thepostmodern literature. The basic characteristics include uncertainty, non-linearity andexperimental language. Uncertainty embodies in the following two aspects mainly: first,Donne wandered between life and death; second, he wandered between the natural andthe unnatural world. Non-linearity comes from the randomness of Donne’s thinking. Inthis book, he was not inclined to create a literary work, but led by his heart, and wrote inthe guidance of his psychic blueprint. The experimental language brought the enormousvitality to this work which mainly reflects in “conceit”. By using this literary technique,Donne combined his vivid thinking and strong emotions together, making his languageuntraditional. What’s more, Donne also gave the charm of “conceit” to the structure of this book, making the readers cannot help admiring the original craftsmanship of him.In our country, the research emphasis of Donne’s works is mainly concentrated onhis poetry, especially on the poems in his early and middle writing career. The studiesfocusing on his later works, particularly his religious proses, are relatively less. Thecomprehensive and systematic research on the Devotions upon Emergent Occasions isseldom touched by the scholars. The religious prose is an important form of literature,and is also a gigantic literary treasure house. The author chose this book as the text foranalysis, hoping to make a modest contribution to the domestic Donne reserach.