Examining Donne's poetry and his increasingly sophisticated use of rhetoric, Baumlin argues that there are four distinct theories of historical rhetoric - the incarnational, the transcendental, the sceptical and the sophistic - which foster four distinct theories of reading. In part 1 Baumlin looks at Donne's early prose and the Satyres as documents whose rhetoric, based on classical models, strains and tests their form. In part 2 he looks at the Songs and Sonets, examining historical theories and Donne's uses of rhetoric in greater depth. The author argues that his revisionary theory of discourse should apply to another of Donne's works and to renaissance literature generally. Baumlin concludes his study by looking at how rhetoric can affect genre. The book is aimed at students of literary theory, the history of rhetoric, and of Donne criticism.