John Donne Biography

As a poet and a man, John Donne is one of the most fascinating writers ever. His poetry is a remarkable wonder of language, and his life was a colourful adventure. He is currently considered as the pre-eminent poet of a form of poetry that we call "Metaphysical Poetry". He was a Jacobean writer, more or less a contemporary of Shakespeare, Fletcher, and Webster, but quite apart from those theatre artists, both in terms of social position and intellectual work. In this John Donne short biography, we will learn about John Donne’s Life and Works.

Donne had a huge amount of talent and ability. He was born into a Roman Catholic family at a time when being a Catholic was illegal, which put him at a disadvantage in his early years. He was admitted to Hart Hall Oxford at the age of eleven, where he spent three years, and then to the University of Cambridge, where he studied for another three years.

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John Donne Early Life and Education

On the 22nd of January, 1572, in London, England, John Donne was born into a Roman Catholic family. His parents were rich Londoners, John Donne, and Elizabeth Heywood. His grandfather was Thomas More, a great Catholic martyr. Unfortunately, his father died when he was only four years old in 1576, leaving Elizabeth alone with the task of raising the young children. Following his father's death, his mother remarried to Dr. John Syminges, a surgeon. She later became the dean of St. Paul's Cathedral. Sadly, she passed away in 1632.

John was schooled privately during his early years because he came from a religious family. He enrolled at Hart Hall, Oxford University, in 1583. He studied there for three years but did not graduate due to his Catholic beliefs. The supremacy oath, he claimed, went against his beliefs. It was essential for the degree to be completed. Later, in 1591, he was accepted into London's Thieves Inn Legal School to further his education. However, he spent much of his time, both during and after his studies, on books, travel, and hobbies. He received an honorary doctorate from Cambridge University in 1615.

Career

Although he is today known around the world as a brilliant poet, he was known in Jacobean England for his strong oratory sermons. In 1597, he began working as a secretary to Sir Thomas Edgerton after completing his schooling at Lincoln's Inn. Unfortunately, following his secret marriage, he lost his job. This incident plunged him into a financial mess. He spent the remaining fourteen years of his life looking for work and writing literary masterpieces like "Pseudo-Martyr" and "Biathanatos".

He later became the Royal Chaplin to James in the Church of England in 1615. He was made a dean of St. Paul's Church in 1921. Until his illness in the autumn of 1630, he spent the next decade as a preacher and writer. Despite the fact that he expressed his views, emotions, and sentiments so well in his work, he made no effort to publish it because he never wanted to make money from his words. As a result, his poems circulated in manuscript form among his circle of friends during his lifetime. His "Elegies and Satires", on the other hand, were most certainly written around the 1590s.

Personal Life 

Henry Donne, John Donne's brother, was convicted of Catholic sympathies in 1593 and died in jail soon after. John's Catholic faith was called into question as a result of the tragedy, which inspired some of his best religious literature. Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England, appointed Donne as his private secretary when he was 25 years old. He stayed with Egerton for several years, and it's possible that Donne converted to Anglicanism at this time.

Donne became a Member of Parliament in 1601 on his path to a promising career. In the same year, he married Anne More, Sir Egerton's niece, at the age of 16. Both Lord Egerton and Anne's father, George More, were strongly opposed to the marriage, and More refused to offer a dowry as a result. Donne was fired by Lord Egerton and imprisoned for a short time. The married couple struggled for eight years after Donne's release until Anne's father eventually paid her dowry.

Donne also worked as a lawyer and penned Divine Poems (1607). With the publishing of Pseudo-Martyr (1610) and Ignatius his Conclave (1611), Donne made his final break with his Catholic past. These works won him King James' favour, and consequently, he was pressed to take Anglican orders. Donne reluctantly agreed, and in 1615 he was named Royal Chaplain, followed by the position of Reader in Divinity at Lincoln's Inn the following year. Donne's sharp wit and intelligence made him one of the most popular preachers of his time. Anne Donne died in 1617 while giving birth to the couple's 12th child. Donne was deeply impacted by her death, but he continued to write, most notably Holy Sonnets (1618).

Literary Style 

Donne gave wider range to the world of literature with his mature intellectual thoughts, despite facing challenges and terrible losses in life. During his lifetime, however, his work was not published or acknowledged. His highly intellectualized works, on the other hand, were regarded as Raw. He was considered a pioneer of the metaphysical school of thought after his death. His poetry is distinguished by its richness and complexity of thinking, as well as an excess of paradoxes, twisted imagery, and bold conceits. In addition, in his writings, he is known for utilizing a hard tone and rigid expression. Religion, fidelity, humanity's interconnectedness, mortality, separation, and self-love are constant themes in most of his poems.

John Donne’s Works

Best Poems: Among his best poems are "Go and Catch a Falling Star", "The Good Morrow", "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning", "The Canonization”, "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "Death Be Not Proud", and "Sunne Rising".

Letters: In addition to many love poems and holy sonnets, he experimented with letters. “To Mr. Christopher: The Storm”, “To Mr. Christopher: The Calm”, “To Sir Henry Wotton”, “To Mr. T.W.”, “To Mr. Samuel Becket” and “To Mr. I.L.” are some of his well-known letters.

Impact on Literature

John Donne is a well-known metaphysical writer who was liked by his contemporaries. However, after his death, his writings were neglected until the twentieth century, when various writers praised his highly intelligent works. His literary abilities and unique style of expression influenced the opinions of twentieth-century poets and authors. In the majority of his poetry, he emphasized the need for self-love. His works urge us to love people unconditionally, regardless of how tough their lives may be. It's because of these characteristics, many poets and writers, including Robert Browning, T.S. Eliot, and W.B. Yeats were influenced by him. He was so successful in expressing his ideas in his works that writers today want to emulate his unique style, considering him a model for prose and poetry writing.

John Donne biography and works influenced the world in such a way that we believe it is a real person talking, someone with great emotional and intellectual power. In addition, the language is very manly, physical, and reliable. The great strength of Donne's poems is that they speak directly to and touch the emotions of readers of all generations. They don't use a lot of imagery, and there's no description. They are intelligent in the sense that they use intellectual rather than natural images to develop their ideas, and they use rational arguments to do so.

Death

Donne's sickness was thought to be a malarial form of recurrent quinsy affecting the neurotic system. On the 12th of February 1631, he returned to London and was able to preach at Whitehall. Death's Duel was the title of his most recent sermon, which was released shortly after his death. He now stood in front of a fire in his Deanery study, his winding-sheet wrapped and tied over him, his eyes closed, and his feet resting on a funeral urn, for his statue to the sculptor, Nicholas Stone. After his death, this awful work of art was erected in white marble in St Paul's Cathedral, where it can still be seen. On March 31, 1631, Donne died.

John Donne was a well-known English poet, satirist, lawyer, and priest. As we discussed John Donne’s life history in detail above, we may conclude that, in addition to being the founder of the metaphysical school of poetry, John Donne was also one of the most prominent preachers in England at the time. He switched to the Anglican Church after being appointed Chief Secretary to the Lord Keeper of the Great Seal. He was born into a recusant Roman Catholic family of Welsh descent. His secret marriage to his employer's niece, on the other hand, not only cost him his job but also damaged his chances of ever holding another public position.

As a result, he was forced to live in extreme poverty for nearly a decade. When his anti-Catholic polemic ‘Pseudo-Martyr' was published in 1610, his fortunes changed. It not only helped him gain the patronage of renowned noblemen like Sir Robert Drury of Hawstead but also the favour of King James I and King Charles I, following his death. At the King's request, he eventually joined the Church of England, and within seven years, he was appointed Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in London. He pursued his literary efforts throughout. His poems, which are known for their strong sensual style, continue to inspire English poets today.