The Ubi Sunt Formula in Donne’s Sermons

Abstract

This paper tries to demonstrate how Donne uses the ubi sunt formula in his sermons and how the use of it exemplifies his concept of the function of a sermon. The ubi sunt formula has been continuously used in English literature since the Anglo-Saxon period, stating the mutability intrinsic to the human condition associated with the idea of the decay of the world. Donne was familiar with the device; however, he did not use it simply to assert mutability in his sermons. Instead he used ubi sunt to resolve the paradox inherent in the doctrine of the resurrection of the body: the extent to which he describes death's corruption is integral to establishing faith in the actual immortality of the body. Although figures of decay run throughout Donne's sermons, those which he adapts to the ubi sunt formula are the most powerful, due to the evocative nature of the rhetorical structure.