792 Death and Decay in Early Modern Lyric Poetry (with Eileen Sperry) | My Last Book with Bruce Gordon

In this episode of The History of Literature, host Jack Wilson explores the profound engagement with mortality, decay, and the body in early modern lyric poetry through a conversation with Eileen Sperry, author of *This Body of Death: Form and Decay in Early Modern Lyric*. Sperry examines how poets like Andrew Marvell, John Donne, Edmund Spenser, and the recently rediscovered Hester Poulter used literary form to confront the inevitability of death not as a distant event, but as an ongoing condition of being. She argues that these poets, particularly through the Carpe Diem tradition and the concept of 'decay,' offer a model of complex embodiment—one that embraces bodily fragility and interdependence rather than striving for immortality or total independence. Drawing on disability studies and the work of Tobin Siebers, Sperry reframes mortality not as a failure to be overcome but as a central, unifying aspect of human experience. The episode also features a reflective conversation with biblical scholar Bruce Gordon, who shares his choice for his final book: the Psalms and *The Imitation of Christ*, both of which he sees as deeply human, honest, and spiritually nourishing. Together, these discussions paint a picture of literature as a vital space for confronting mortality with honesty, intimacy, and hope.