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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] John Donne Biography DONNE, dŏn, John (1573–1631). An English poet and divine. He was born in London, where his father, John Donne, who was Welsh by descent, was a prosperous ironmonger. His mother was a daughter of John Heywood the epigrammatist. He was brought up a Roman Catholic. In 1584 he was admitted at Hart Hall, Oxford, but was transferred to Cambridge, and in 1592 he was entered at Lincoln's Inn. A little later he turned Protestant. In 1596 he served under Essex in the famous expedition to Cadiz, and on his return was appointed secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton, Keeper of the Great Seal. During the next few years he wrote many poems, some of which circulated in manuscripts, but none were published. In December, 1600, he secretly married Anne, then only 17 years old, the daughter of Sir George More, brother of the Lord Keeper's wife. In consequence of this act he was dismissed from office and was even committed to the Fleet, but he soon obtained his release. Though James was friendly towards him, the King gave him no post at court. Donne continued to write verse, sending the manuscripts of his Divine Poems to the mother of George Herbert in 1607. In 1610 be wrote for the King the PseudoMartyr, an argument against the attitude of the Catholics towards the oath of allegiance. This was his first publication. The next year he published a beautiful elegy on the death of Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Robert Drury, who was Donne's patron. This poem was followed in 1612 by a philosophical poem, called The Progress of the Soul. Donne soon began to look towards the Church for a career. In 1615 he was ordained in London, and the University of Cambridge made him a D.D. The next year he was presented to the livings of Keyston in Huntingdonshire and of Sevenoaks in Kent. He never resided in either parish, but he held Sevenoaks till his death. The same year he was appointed divinity reader at Lincoln's Inn, and in 1621 he was elected dean of St. Paul's. He died March 31, 1631, and was buried in St. Paul's. As a preacher, Donne at once attained eminence. His verse consists of satires, elegies, religious poems, epistles, and epigrams. Donne was among the first of a series of poets of the seventeenth century who, under the infelicitous name of "the metaphysical poets," fill a conspicuous place in English literary history. The directness of thought, the naturalness of description, the rich abundance of genuine poetical feeling and imagery, now began to give way to cold and forced conceits, and elaborate exercises of the intellect. Yet it is generally acknowledged, especially in the case of Donne, that amid these subtleties there is real poetry, and that of a high order. Especially beautiful are The Storm, The Calm, The Blossom, The Primrose, and Upon Parting with his Mistress. Donne's influence has been very great, for not only did he found a school of poetry which flourished till the advent of Dryden, but his intensity and obscurity passed into Browning. Donne published little, but from his voluminous manuscripts a collection of the poems was published in 1633; and 80 sermons in 1640, to which was prefixed a charming Life by Isaak Walton. For his poems, consult the editions by Grosart, in Fuller's Worthies Library (London, 1872); and by Chambers, with introduction by Saintsbury (ib., 1896); for sermons: Alford, The Works of John Donne (ib., 1839); for his life: Jessop (ib., 1897), and Gosse, Life and Letters of John Donne (ib., 1899); Donne’s Letters to Severall Persons of Honour (New York, 1910), edited and annotated by C. E. Merrill, Jr., throws new light on the poet. In 1912 (Oxford) appeared Poems; With Introductions and Commentary, edited by H. J. C. Grierson (2 vols. Vol. i contains text and appendixes; vol. ii, introduction and commentary). The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. VII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 181. |