John Donne

?The world, physical and moral, is dissolving in corruption which human reason can not cure.? (Grierson & Smith , 98) This is described as the way John Donne viewed the world after much of what he had known changed. In the beginning our world is set, pains, fears and all. During the course of life it changes and nothing is left to grasp onto, this is true for most people young and old, through out history and the present. John Donne?s works express the struggles, pain, knowledge and beauty of a lifetime well lived. The purpose of this paper is to gain a better understanding of the works of John Donne through a look at his cultural background, career and personal life.

John Donne was born in England, 1572 into a Roman Catholic family. He attended Oxford when he was eleven and went to Cambridge at fourteen. He never received a degree from either school because he would have been required to take an oath that was prohibited by his religious beliefs. (Grierson & Smith, 96) At the age of twenty he entered Lincoln?s Inn to study law with the money from his fathers death. (Grierson & Smith, 96) Over the course of the next few years he ventured abroad to Italy and Spain and began to study controversial divinity. He also traveled with the Earl of Essex to
Quam
Cadiz and the Azores. (Hopkins, 102) In 1598 as a result of his studies he renounced Rome and his upbringing and converted to Anglicanism. (Beasley) After returning from abroad he was appointed in the Lords Keepers service. In 1601 he secretly married the Lords Keepers niece resulting in the loss of his appointment and a short time in prison. (Grierson & Smith, 96) In 1615 Donne took orders from the king as a reader at Lincolns Inn and later as the Dean of St. Paul?s where he earned back his court name as a respected preacher. (Grierson & Smith, 96)

Throughout his lifetime John Donne wrote from what he knew. He was called one of the first intellectual poets as well as the father of metaphysical poetry. (Hopkins, 100) In much of his early life he drifted from the pattern of popular writing and wrote from what he experienced and how he felt. This is what set him apart from the others of his time. (Hopkins,101) In his later life, after the death of his wife, he turned to his religious beliefs to get him through. This impacted his writing subject but not style. In
?Death Be Not Proud? Donne shows his arrogant humor combined with his religious beliefs in eternity and a afterlife. (Kirszner & Mandell, 946 line 13)

Although most of Donne?s work is undated his writing style shows a timeline of his life and trials. In his early writing he shows a more adventurous attitude as his later writings shows an acceptance of life and a bitterness toward the world. (Grierson and Smith, 97) His early writings focus on love for a woman spiritual and physical and in his later writings after the death of his wife he turns his love and passion toward God. (Beasley, The
Quam
Ecstasy) (Grierson & Smith, 98) In this later part of his life he became a very enclosed spiritual man who seemed to have an arrogant reaction to life and the world around him. In his work ?Death Be Not Proud? (Kirzner & Mandell, 946) he mocks death making it powerless to him. He used his writing to help him through much of his spiritual growth and making light of what had the most impact on his life. (Grierson & Smith, 99) Much of his later work focused on mans struggle with the spiritual world. He focused on the beauty of Gods creation and the downfalls of human sin. His own life was a muse to his writing. Even evident to his death when he delivered his last sermon entitled
?Deaths Duel?. (Beasley)

Much of John Donne?s work was related to his life and trials. He wrote on emotions when he found he had nothing left to grasp onto. Disgusted with the world he turned to faith and his relationship with the Devine. He became a instrument of greatness and wrote works of wisdom and knowledge to leave behind for all generations. We must all add feeling and emotions to our writing to give it more human characteristics. ?No man is an Iland? We are all connected and we all grow and learn from each other experience. John Donne and many other writers of our past, present and future should be our inspiration to convey our self through our writing so that we may teach others through our own personal trials.

Works Cited

Beasley, Chris ?John Donne? The Literature Network
Chris Beasley on John Donne 2000-2002
http://www.online-literature.com/donne

Grierson, Herbert and Smith, J.C.
?A Critical History of English Poetry?
London, Chatto & Windus Ltd, 1962 (90-99)

Hopkins, Kenneth
?English Poetry, A Short History?
Philadelphia & New York
J.B. Lippincott Co. 1962 (100-102)

Kirszner, Laurie & Mandell, Stephen
?Literature, Reading, Reacting, Writing?
Fort Worth, Harcourt, 2001 (946-947)