SOURCE: Beaston, Lawrence. “Talking to a Silent God: Donne's Holy Sonnets and the Via Negativa.” Renascence: Essays on Values in Literature 60, no. 2 (winter 1999): 95-109.
In the following essay, Beaston examines the tension between modern readers' expectations and Donne's intent in the Holy Sonnets, arguing that the Sonnets dramatize the medieval concept of via negativa, or the experience of God's presence and mystery even in His apparent absence.
This is a free excerpt of 69 words. There are 6,480 words (approx.
22 pages at 300 words per page) in the full critical essay.
Read the rest of this Criticism with our John Donne: Critical Essay by Lawrence Beaston Access Pass.
