Summary

Donne tells his friend that letters "mingle souls" better than kisses, and that without their communication, he would simply wither away (1). He explains that he finds the country, the court, and cities to all be miserable places to dwell. Cities, he says, are home to "carcasses," courts he compares to "theaters," and the country is a "desert" (22-25).

These places are also breeding grounds for sin, and virtue is so rare to find that it is considered "barbarous" (34). Donne exclaims that it is no wonder that sin pervades these dwellings, because men are "sponges" who absorb everything they see before them (36). He posits that if man from the past were to look upon himself in the present, he would not recognize the degenerate form he has taken.

With all of this in mind, Donne tells his addressee to "be thine own home" (47). He compares...