Based on an exhaustive study of the manuscripts and printed editions in which these poems have appeared, the fifth volume in the series of The Variorum Edition of the Poetry of John Donne presents newly edited critical texts of the five canonical satires and "Metempsychosis" and details the genealogical history of each accompanied by a thorough prose discussion. The analysis contained in the volume shows that Donne revised each of the poems and explains how readings from the competing versions were intermingled in the early editions and transmitted to subsequent generations. The volume also presents a comprehensive organized digest of the critical-scholarly commentary on these poems from Donne's time through 2001.

Based on an exhaustive study of the manuscripts and printed editions in which these poems have appeared, the fifth volume in the series of The Variorum Edition of the Poetry of John Donne presents newly edited critical texts of the five canonical satires and "Metempsychosis" and details the genealogical history of each accompanied by a thorough prose discussion. The analysis contained in the volume shows that Donne revised each of the poems and explains how readings from the competing versions were intermingled in the early editions and transmitted to subsequent generations. The volume also presents a comprehensive organized digest of the critical-scholarly commentary on these poems from Donne's time through 2001.