ABSTRACT
At all events, though many of Donne’s poems were long unpublished, his works were familiar in manuscript to his literary contemporaries; and, whatever else, they were recognized as the most individual of his time. Spenser frankly set forth in English poetry the influence of classical Italian. Jonson sturdily expounded and practised the permanent poetic principles of the enduring classics of antiquity. Donne wrote with utter disregard of both these influences; and, although he was manifestly influenced by the decadent ingenuities which had become fashionable in Italy and in Spain, his English manner was, almost rudely, his own.
