In “a room wainscotted with looking glass”. Il dibattito sul teatro nei sermoni di John Donne

The article examines excerpts from Donne's Sermons, which refer to the theatre either metaphorically or literally. Donne reuses materials drawn from the Holy Scriptures and from classical literature, and expands on them in his metatextual commentaries. In so doing, he revitalises tropes and makes them so effective as to convince his audience. Reconstructing this process enables us to put together the main definitions of theatre which the Dean of St Paul and his audience shared.