Next

John Donne was born in 1572 to a London merchant and his wife. Donne’s family was Catholic at a time when Queen Elizabeth violently upheld the Church of England. The persecution Donne faced as a Catholic in Protestant England meant he couldn’t complete his education or pursue a public career. He therefore converted to the Anglican Church. Yet this conversion didn’t initially guarantee his success in public life. In the late 1590s, Donne became the secretary to a prominent statesman, Sir Thomas Egerton. But his burgeoning career collapsed in 1601 when he secretly married Egerton’s niece, infuriating his employer and the young woman’s wealthy father. Financially ruined, Donne moved his family throughout England and attempted unsuccessfully to gain positions that might improve his situation. Eventually, in 1615, Donne was ordained a priest in the Anglican Church. Six years later he became the Dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, a post that he retained until he died in 1631. Though praised in his lifetime for the powerful directness of his sermons, today Donne’s reputation rests primarily on his poetry. Taken together, his poetic work furnishes an idiosyncratic vision that, though a variety of ingenious conceits, considers the conflict between spiritual piety and physical carnality.

Next section Historical and Literary Context

Take a Study Break