When did John Donne write his sonnets?
By the time John Donne wrote his religious sonnets (c. 1610) and Milton wrote sonnets on political and religious subjects or on personal themes such as his blindness (i.e., “When I consider how my light is spent”), the sonnet had been extended to embrace nearly all the subjects of poetry.
What is John Donne's most famous poem?
Death Be Not Proud is the most famous poem of John Donne with its opening lines especially being extremely popular. Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
What is the last poem written by John Donne?
Hymn to God My God, in My Sickness.
What type of poet is Donne?
He is considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His poetical works are noted for their metaphorical and sensual style and include sonnets, love poems, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, and satires. He is also known for his sermons.
Who is John Donne?
Literary movement. Metaphysical poetry. John Donne ( / dʌn / DUN; 22 January 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London ...
Who was John Donne's father?
Donne was the third of six children. His father, also named John Donne, married to one Elizabeth Heywood, was of Welsh descent and a warden of the Ironmongers Company in the City of London. However, he avoided unwelcome government attention out of fear of persecution.
How long did Donne live in poverty?
Despite his great education and poetic talents, Donne lived in poverty for several years, relying heavily on wealthy friends. He spent much of the money he inherited during and after his education on womanising, literature, pastimes, and travel.
Why did Donne not get a degree?
Donne, however, could not obtain a degree from either institution because of his Catholicism, since he refused to take the Oath of Supremacy required to graduate .
What is the theme of Donne's poetry?
Another important theme in Donne's poetry is the idea of true religion, something that he spent much time considering and about which he often theorised. He wrote secular poems as well as erotic and love poems. He is particularly famous for his mastery of metaphysical conceits .
When is Donne remembered?
Donne is remembered with a commemoration as a priest and poet in the calendar of the Church of England and in the Calendar of Saints of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America on 31 March.
Where did Anne Donne live?
After his release, Donne had to accept a retired country life in a small house in Pyrford, Surrey, owned by Anne's cousin, Sir Francis Wooley, where they resided until the end of 1604. In spring 1605 they moved to another small house in Mitcham, London, where he scraped a meager living as a lawyer, while Anne Donne bore a new baby almost every year. Though he also worked as an assistant pamphleteer to Thomas Morton writing anti-Catholic pamphlets, Donne was in a constant state of financial insecurity.
What is Donne's poetry?
Donne’s poetry is marked by strikingly original departures from the conventions of 16th-century English verse, particularly that of Sir Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser. Even his early satires and elegies, which derive from classical Latin models, contain versions of his experiments with genre, form, and imagery.
Why is it difficult to date Donne's poetry?
Because almost none of Donne’s poetry was published during his lifetime, it is difficult to date it accurately. Most of his poems were preserved in manuscript copies made by and passed among a relatively small but admiring coterie of poetry lovers.
Why were the Anniversaries written?
The most sustained of Donne’s poems, the Anniversaries, were written to commemorate the death of Elizabeth Drury, the 14-year-old daughter of his patron, Sir Robert Drury. These poems subsume their ostensible subject into a philosophical meditation on the decay of the world.
When were the elegies written?
Most current scholars agree, however, that the elegies (which in Donne’s case are poems of love, not of mourning), epigrams, verse letters, and satires were written in the 1590s, the Songs and Sonnets from the 1590s until 1617, and the “Holy Sonnets” and other religious lyrics from the time of Donne’s marriage until his ordination in 1615.
Who was the poet who adapted the material of love lyrics?
Taken together, these features of his poetry provided an impetus for the works of such later poets as Robert Browning, William Butler Yeats, and T.S. Eliot. Donne also radically adapted some of the standard materials of love lyrics.
Does Donne speak directly to the lady?
Donne, by contrast, speaks directly to the lady or some other listener. The latter may even determine the course of the poem, as in “The Flea,” in which the speaker changes his tack once the woman crushes the insect on which he has built his argument about the innocence of lovemaking.
When was John Donne published?
Who Was John Donne? The first two editions of John Donne's poems were published posthumously, in 1633 and 1635, after having circulated widely in manuscript copies. Readers continue to find stimulus in his fusion of witty argument with passion, his dramatic rendering of complex states of mind, and his ability to make common words yield up rich ...
When did Donne die?
His compelling examination of the mortal paradox influenced English poets for generations. He died on March 31, 1631. Donne’s work fell out of favor for a time, but was revived in the 20th century by high-profile admirers such as T.S. Eliot and William Butler Yeats.
How old was Donne when he married Anne More?
On his way to a promising career, Donne became a Member of Parliament in 1601. That same year, he married 16-year-old Anne More, the niece of Sir Egerton. Both Lord Egerton and Anne’s father, George More, strongly disapproved of the marriage, and, as punishment, More did not provide a dowry. Lord Egerton fired Donne and had him imprisoned for a short time. The eight years following Donne’s release would be a struggle for the married couple until Anne’s father finally paid her dowry.
What did Donne do in 1617?
The time for writing love poems was over, and Donne devoted his energies to more religious subjects.
Why did Donne never get a degree?
He entered Oxford University at age 11 and later the University of Cambridge, but never received degrees, due to his Catholicism. At age 20, Donne began studying law at Lincoln’s Inn and seemed destined for a legal or diplomatic career. During the 1590s, he spent much of his inheritance on women, books and travel.
What is John Steinbeck known for?
John Steinbeck was an American novelist who is known for works such as the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, 'The Grapes of Wrath,' as well as 'Of Mice and Men' and 'East of Eden.'
Who wrote the devotions on emerging occasions?
In 1621, Donne became dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral. During a period of severe illness, he wrote “Devotions upon Emergent Occasions,” published in 1624. This work contains the immortal lines “No man is an island” and “never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”.
When was Donne's Divine Poems published?
He continued to write and published the Divine Poems in 1607. In Pseudo-Martyr, published in 1610, Donne displayed his extensive knowledge of the laws of the Church and state, arguing that Roman Catholics could support James I without compromising their faith.
When did Donne write his prayers?
He wrote his private prayers, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, during a period of severe illness and published them in 1624.
What is John Donne known for?
Best known for his vivacious, compelling style and thorough examination of mortal paradox, John Donne died in London on March 31, 1631. School/Movements. metaphysical poet. poems.
What was Donne's most famous work?
Donne wrote most of his love lyrics, erotic verse, and some sacred poems in the 1590s, creating two major volumes of work: Satires and Songs and Sonnets. In 1598, after returning from a two-year naval expedition against Spain, Donne was appointed private secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton.
What was the period of Donne?
Donne entered the world during a period of theological and political unrest for both England and France; a Protestant massacre occurred on Saint Bartholomew's day in France; while in England, the Catholics were the persecuted minority.
Who is John Donne?
John Donne was born in 1572 in London, England. He is known as the founder of the Metaphysical Poets , a term created by Samuel Johnson, an eighteenth-century English essayist, poet, and philosopher. The loosely associated group also includes George Herbert, Richard Crashaw, Andrew Marvell, and John Cleveland. The Metaphysical Poets are known for their ability to startle the reader and coax new perspective through paradoxical images, subtle argument, inventive syntax, and imagery from art, philosophy, and religion using an extended metaphor known as a conceit. Donne reached beyond the rational and hierarchical structures of the seventeenth century with his exacting and ingenious conceits, advancing the exploratory spirit of his time.
Did Donne get a dowry?
As punishment, he did not provide a dowry for the couple and had Donne briefly imprisoned. This left the couple isolated and dependent on friends, relatives, and patrons. Donne suffered social and financial instability in the years following his marriage, exacerbated by the birth of many children.
What did Donne write?
In spite of his misery during these years, Donne wrote and studied assiduously, producing prose works on theology, canon law, and anti-Catholic polemics and composing love lyrics, religious poetry, and complimentary and funerary verse for his patrons. As early as 1607 friends had begun urging him to take holy orders in the Church of England, but he felt unworthy and continued to seek secular employment. In 1611–12 he traveled through France and the Low Countries with his newfound patron, Sir Robert Drury, leaving his wife at Mitcham. Upon their return from the European continent, the Drurys provided the Donnes with a house on the Drury estate in London, where they lived until 1621.
Who is John Donne?
John Donne, (born sometime between Jan. 24 and June 19, 1572, London, Eng.—died March 31, 1631, London), leading English poet of the Metaphysical school and dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London (1621–31). Donne is often considered the greatest love poet in the English language. He is also noted for his religious verse and treatises ...
What degree did Donne receive?
He was made a royal chaplain and received, at the king’s command, the degree of doctor of divinity from Cambridge. On Nov. 22, 1621, Donne was installed as dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, at which he carried out his duties with efficiency and integrity.
What was Donne's illness?
On Feb. 25, 1631, Donne, who was fatally ill with stomach cancer , left his sickbed to preach a final sermon at court; this was published posthumously as “Death’s Duell” and is sometimes considered to be his own funeral sermon. He returned to his sickbed and, according to Walton, had a drawing made of himself in his shroud, perhaps as an aid to meditating on his own dissolution. From this drawing Nicholas Stone constructed a marble effigy of Donne that survived the Great Fire of 1666 and still stands today in St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Where did Donne study?
Following his studies Donne probably traveled in Spain and Italy and then returned to London to read law, first at Thavies Inn (1591) and then at Lincoln’s Inn (1592–94). There he turned to a comparative examination of Roman Catholic and Protestant theology and perhaps even toyed with religious skepticism.
When was Donne ordained?
He was ordained deacon and priest on Jan. 23, 1615, and preferment soon followed. He was made a royal chaplain and received, at the king’s command, the degree of doctor of divinity from Cambridge.
Who is the greatest love poet?
Donne is often considered the greatest love poet in the English language. He is also noted for his religious verse and treatises and for his sermons, which rank among the best of the 17th century. Britannica Quiz. Poets and Poetry of Great Britain Quiz. Whose book The Hunting of the Snark has been called the longest and best-sustained nonsense poem ...
When did Donne write Divine Poems?
He continued to write and published the Divine Poems in 1607. In Pseudo-Martyr, published in 1610, Donne displayed his extensive knowledge of the laws of the Church and state, arguing that Roman Catholics could support James I without compromising their faith. In 1615, James I pressured him to enter the Anglican Ministry by declaring ...
When did Donne write his prayers?
He wrote his private prayers, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, during a period of severe illness and published them in 1624.
What did James I pressure Donne to do?
In 1615, James I pressured him to enter the Anglican Ministry by declaring that Donne could not be employed outside of the Church. He was appointed Royal Chaplain later that year. His wife, aged thirty-three, died in 1617, shortly after giving birth to their twelfth child, a stillborn.
What was Donne's most famous work?
Donne wrote most of his love lyrics, erotic verse, and some sacred poems in the 1590's, creating two major volumes of work: Satires, and Songs and Sonnets. In 1598, after returning from a two-year naval expedition against Spain, Donne was appointed private secretary to Sir Thomas Edgarton.
What was the Donne period?
Donne entered the world during a period of theological and political unrest for both England and France; a Protestant massacre occurred on Saint Bartholomew's day in France; while in England, the Catholics were the persecuted minority. Born into a Roman Catholic family, Donne's personal relationship with religion was tumultuous and passionate, ...
Where was John Donne born?
John Donne [1572-1631] was born in London, Eng land.#N#Despite his religious calling (he was Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London), his poetry is notable for its eroticism and sometimes cynical worldview, as well as for its striking imagery.
Who edited the letters to several persons of honour?
Letters to Severall Persons of Honour (1651) Edited by John Donne, Jr. Facsimile, with introduction by M. Thomas Hester.
What is John Donne's poetry?
John Donne’s poetry is a curious mix of contradictions. At once spiritual and metaphysical, it is also deeply embedded in the physicality of bodies: love as a physical, corporeal experience as well as a spiritual high. His style can often be startlingly plain (‘For God’s sake hold your tongue’, one of the poems on this list begins), yet his imagery is frequently complex, his use of extended metaphors requiring some careful unpacking. Here we’ve condensed the complete poetical works of John Donne into ten of his best-known and most celebrated poems. What is your favourite John Donne poem? And can you choose one classic Donne poem?
Who is the poet who wrote the sonnet of Donne?
This is the aspect of Donne which prefigures (and possibly influenced) a poet of 250 years later, the Victorian religious poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, who often addresses God in the same breathless, excited way that we see in this sonnet.
How does Donne start his poem?
And it’s gloriously frank – it begins with Donne chastising the sun for peeping through the curtains, rousing him and his lover as they lie in bed together of a morning. Donne’s metaphors are clever: observe the way he takes the idea of being blinded by staring at the sun and turns it on its head, saying that the sun itself may well be blinded by looking upon the eyes of his beloved – they’re that dazzling and beautiful.
What does Donne like to describe in a Valediction?
In ‘A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning’, Donne likens the relationship between him and his wife to a religious or spiritual bond between two souls: note that he uses the word ‘laity’ to describe other people who cannot understand the love the two of them bear one another.
Why don't we just do it Donne?
Donne’s poem argues that the unattainable woman shouldn’t be unattainable: all that flattery of her looks and beauty is because the poet really wants to sleep with her. So, Donne concludes, why don’t we just do it? He also briefly introduces, and overturns, the idea of Neoplatonism (also seen elsewhere in his poetry): namely, that the body must be left behind in order to love the soul.
What is the meaning of Donne's poem?
Donne’s poem, then, is about the separation of the body and soul, which is immediately odd, since elsewhere his poetry explores the idea that the soul and the body are, in fact, one. It begins: Our eyes upon one double string ….
What is the key feature of John Donne's love poetry?
We get some of the key features of John Donne’s love poetry in ‘The Canonization’: the bragging, the sense that (several centuries before Morrissey) the sun shines out of the lovers’ behinds because they have something the rest of the world will never have: they have their love for each other, which is greater than anyone else’s.
What are some of Donne's most famous works?
Donne's works also include songs to commemorate marriages, such as "Epithalamion Made at Lincoln's Inn," epigrams such as "Pyramus and Thisbe," satirical works, Latin translations and, most tellingly, poems he called "divine and holy sonnets" such as "Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions." The latter contains his most often quoted line, a concept that runs through fully half his works, the reminder of mortality: "Never send to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee." If Donne's metaphysical theme was mortality, certainly his canon demonstrates the theme of versatility.
Who were metaphysical poets?
The metaphysical poets were English writers in the 17th century who were, in many cases, not even aware of each other's existence. Unlike Romantic poets like Wordsworth and Coleridge, the metaphysics did not correspond or form clubs or sponsor one another. They gained their name from the eminent critic Dr. Samuel Johnson who, in "Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets," spoke of a "race" of such writers. Donne, whose range of metaphysical topics went from sensuality to spirituality, has survived as the erstwhile leader of the metaphysical pack.
What is the meaning of "Go and Catch a Falling Star" by Donne?
His point is that "nowhere lives a woman true and fair," as beauty and truth in females do not co-exist. He reinforces this idea with the elegy "Jealousy," a poem about the death of jealousy in a wife when, her husband dead, she finds another man.
Overview
John Donne was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London (1621–1631). He is considered the preeminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His poetical works are noted for their metaphorical and sensual style and include so…
Biography
Donne was born in London in 1571 or 1572, into a recusant Roman Catholic family when practice of that religion was illegal in England. Donne was the third of six children. His father, also named John Donne, married to one Elizabeth Heywood, was of Welsh descent and a warden of the Ironmongers Company in the City of London. However, he avoided unwelcome government attention ou…
Writings
Donne's earliest poems showed a developed knowledge of English society coupled with sharp criticism of its problems. His satires dealt with common Elizabethan topics, such as corruption in the legal system, mediocre poets, and pompous courtiers. His images of sickness, vomit, manure, and plague reflected his strongly satiric view of a society populated by fools and knaves. His third satire, however, deals with the problem of true religion, a matter of great importance to Donne. H…
Style
His work has received much criticism over the years, especially concerning his metaphysical form. Donne is generally considered the most prominent member of the metaphysical poets, a phrase coined in 1781 by Samuel Johnson, following a comment on Donne by John Dryden. Dryden had written of Donne in 1693: "He affects the metaphysics, not only in his satires, but in his amorous verses, where nature only should reign; and perplexes the minds of the fair sex with nic…
Legacy
Donne is remembered in the Calendar of Saints of the Church of England and the Calendar of Saints of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America for his life as both poet and priest, although he was never formally declared a saint. His commemoration is on 31 March.
During his lifetime several likenesses were made of the poet. The earliest was …
Works
• Biathanatos (1608)
• Pseudo-Martyr (1610)
• Ignatius His Conclave (1611)
• The First Anniversary: An Anatomy of the World (1611)
External links
• John Donne on Britannica.com
• Works by John Donne at Project Gutenberg
• Works by or about John Donne at Internet Archive
• Works by John Donne at LibriVox (public domain audiobooks)
Early Life and Family
Family and Wife
- In 1593, John Donne’s brother, Henry, was convicted of Catholic sympathies and died in prison soon after. The incident led John to question his Catholic faith and inspired some of his best writing on religion. At age 25, Donne was appointed private secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England. He held his position with Egerton for several years and it's li…
Poems and Writing Career
- In 1610, Donne published his anti-Catholic polemic “Pseudo-Martyr,” renouncing his faith. In it, he proposed the argument that Roman Catholics could support James I without compromising their religious loyalty to the pope. This won him the king’s favor and patronage from members of the House of Lords. In 1615, Donne was ordained soon thereafter was...
Death
- As Donne’s health continued to fail him, he became obsessed with death. Shortly before he died, he delivered a pre-funeral sermon, “Death’s Duel.” His writing was charismatic and inventive. His compelling examination of the mortal paradox influenced English poets for generations. He died on March 31, 1631. Donne’s work fell out of favor for a time, but was revived in the 20th century …