ABSTRACT
And truly he was a great man; yes, and is one of the greatest figures in English literature, albeit perhaps the worst understood: one of the tribe of strong generative giants…whose stature we recognise albeit we cannot measure it by their writings, which sometimes disappoint and not seldom fatigue us; giants of whom we still feel …that their worth is somehow known although their height be not taken. Donne…wrote some of the most magnificent and astounding pages in our literature, if we know where to look for them. We may not call them, though unparalleled, absolutely beautiful: there is nothing absolute in Donne but his greatness and his manhood.
