Donne’s Architecture of Discernment

Abstract This article argues, with extended glances at the poems, that difficulty of view is a vital feature of Donne’s sermons. Difficulties of interpretation are ‘curious frames’ for Donne, ways of attaining a partial knowledge of God, and discerning a ‘better architecture’ beyond. Architectural images in particular are not only valuable means of dividing up and memorizing a sermon’s content, but also provide epistemologically helpful obstructions. Physical sacred spaces also allow Donne to present a vision of Christian life contracted into a small, single area, if the believer attends in the right way, and does not expect to find God too easily. Particular spaces are generalized, made into abstracts for truths which might otherwise seem distant and unassailable. The purpose of the multiple meanings of scripture, and of Donne’s eloquence and deep learning, is not a curious attention to individual details for their own sake. Instead, Donne pursues the listener’s edification, the rebuilding of their life according to God’s plan. The difficulties of building up this Christian life are epitomized in the difficulties of the sermon’s form, but so too are the delights.