John Donne

John Donne (1572-1631) is remembered as a Jacobean poet and preacher, representative of the metaphysical poets of the period. His works, notable for their realistic and sensual style, include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, satires and sermons. His poetry is noted for its vibrancy of language and immediacy of metaphor, compared with that of his contemporaries. Donne came from a loyal Romanist family, and so experienced persecution until his converison to Anglicanism. Despite his great education and poetic talents, he lived in poverty several years, relying heavily on wealthy friends. In 1615 he became an Anglican priest and in 1621 Dean of St Paul's. Some scholars believe his literary works reflect these trends, with love poetry adn satires from his youth, and religious sermons from his later years. Other scholars, such as Helen Gardner, question the validity of dating when most of his poems were published posthumously (1633). The exception to these is his Anniversaries (published 1612) and Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1623). His sermons are also dated, sometimes quite specifically, by year and date. He was born in London, the third of six children. His father, of Welsh descent, was a warden of the ironmonger's Company in the City of London and a respected Romanist who avoided unwelcome government attention, out of fear of being persecuted. John Donne Sr. died in 1576, leaving his wife, Elizabeth Heywood, the responsibility of raising their children. She was also from a noted Catholic family and was daughter to John Heywood, the playwright; sister of Jasper, translator and Jesuit; a great-niece of Thomas More. Despite obvious dangers, Donne was educated by Jesuits. Donne's mother remarried to a wealthy widower, shortly after her first husband's death. In 1577 his sister Elizabeth died, followed by two more sisters, Mary and Katherine, in 1581. Before he was 10 then he had experienced the deaths of four immediate family members. he went on to study at Hart Hall (Hertford College), Oxford, when 11. After three years at Oxford he went to Cambridge, where he studied another three years. He was unable to obtain a degree from either institution because he refused to take the Oath of Supremacy. In 1591, he was accepted as a student at Thaives Inn. In 1592 he went on to Lincoln's Inn. His brother Henry was also a university student prior to his arrest (1591) for harbouring a priest. Henry died in prison of bubonic plague, leading John to begin questioning his Catholic faith. During and after his education, he spent much of his considerable inheritance on women, literature, pastimes and travel. Although there is no record detailing precisely where he travelled, it is known that he visited the Continent and later fought with the Earl of Essex adn Raleigh at Cadiz (1596) and in the Azores (1597). He witnessed the loss of the Spanish flagship and her crew. According to Izaak Walton's biography (1640) he spent time in Italy then Spain learning their languages and culture. By the age of 25 he was well prepared for the diplomatic career he appeared to be seeking. He was appointed chief secretary to Egerton, and was established at the latter's London home, near Whitehall. During the next four years he fell in love with Egerton's 17 (or younger) year old niece, Anne More, and they were secretly married (1601) against the wishes of both Egerton and her father, George More, Lieutenant of the Tower. This ruined his career and earned him a short stay in the Fleet. Walton tells us that when he wrote to his wife to tell her about losing his post, he wrote after his name: John Donne, Anne Donne, Un-done. It was not until 1609 that Donne was reconciled with his father-in-law and received his wife's dowry. Following his release, Donne had to accept a retired country life in Pyrford, Surrey. Over the next few years he scraped a meagre living as a lawyer, depending on his wife’s cousin Sir Francis Wolly to house him and his family. Since Anne had a baby almost every year, this was a very generous gesture. Though he practiced law and worked as an assistant pamphleteer to Thomas Morton, he was in a state of constant financial insecurity, with a growing family to provide for. Before her death, Anne bore him 11 children (including still births). The nine living were named Constance, John, George, Francis, Lucy (after Donne's patroness Lucy, Countess of Bedford, her godmother), Bridget, Mary, Nicholas and Margaret. Francis and Mary died before they were 10. In a state of despair, Donne noted that the death of a child would mean one less mouth to feed, but he could not afford the burial expenses. During this time Donne wrote, but did not publish, Biathanatos, his daring defence of suicide. Because love-poetry was very fashionable at that time, there are different opinions about whether the passionate love poems Donne wrote are addressed to his wife Anne, but it seems likely. She spent most of her married life either pregnant or nursing, so they evidently had a strong physical relationship. In 1617 she died five days after giving birth to a still-born baby, their eleventh child in 16 years. Donne mourned her deeply and never remarried. This was quite unusual for the time, especially as he had a large family to bring up. He became MP for Brackley, 1602. He struggled to provide for his family, relying heavily upon rich friends. The fashion for coterie poetry of the period gave him a means to seek patronage and many of his poems were written for wealthy friends or patrons, especially Sir Robert Drury, who came to be Donne's chief patron 1610. It was for Sir Robert that Donne wrote the two Anniversaries, An Anatomy of the World (1611) and Of the Progress of the Soul (1612). While historians are not certain as to the precise reasons for which Donne left Romanism he was certainly in communication with King James and in 1610 and 1611 he wrote two anti-Catholic polemics: Pseudo-Martyr and Ignatius his Conclave. Although James was pleased with Donne's work, he refused to reinstate him at court and instead urged him to take holy orders. Although at first reluctant due to feeling unworthy of a clerical career, he finally acceded and was ordained into the Anglican Church in 1615. He soon became a Royal Chaplain, Reader of Divinty at Lincoln's Inn (1616) and received a DD from Cambridge (1618). Later that year he became the chaplain for the Viscount of Doncaster, who was on an embassy to the princes of Germany. He did not return until 1620. In 1621 he was made Dean of St Paul's, a leading (and well-paid) position, one he held until his death. During his period as Dean his daughter Lucy died, aged 18. In 1624 he became vicar of St Dunstan's in the West and (1625) a Royal Chaplain to Charles. He earned a reputation as an impressive, eloquent preacher and 160 of his sermons have survived, including the famous Death’s Duel sermon delivered at the Palace of Whitehall before Charles (1631). He died in 1631 having never published a poem in his lifetime but having left a body of work that fiercely engaged with the emotional and intellectual conflicts of his age. He is buried in St Paul's, where a memorial statue of him was erected (carved from a drawing of him in his shroud), with a Latin epigraph probably composed by himself.