I ask Rundell to take us back 400 years to the days of Donne. As the last tourists and worshippers leave the building, mice come out and scuttle across the stone floor of the cavernous chamber. The sound of a choir singing evensong floats through the circular grates above us. We meet in the crypt at St Paul’s Cathedral, where the poet preached for the final decade of his life. My hope was that they would finish the book and immediately go and find his poetry.” I wanted to write something that would be gripping enough to take hold of people by the wrist, even those who perhaps wouldn’t think they could be interested in John Donne, and pull them through his life. She describes Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne as “both a biography and act of evangelism. Rundell wants to share her passion for Donne. Reciting it, she brings the fantastic imagery to life: One poem that captured her imagination was “ Go and Catch a Falling Star,” which sparked a lifelong passion for John Donne. They’d pin poems next to the bathroom sink and pay her a few cents for each one she learned by heart. She also loved reading, something her parents encouraged. School finished at midday, after which she’d head outside to climb trees and build rafts. Katherine Rundell’s childhood in Zimbabwe was the stuff of dreams. The following first appeared in Trust Magazine
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