Take the poet, John Donne â 1572 â 1631 and comment on how the life and times of his era is reflected in their writing.
The piece examines the life and times of the enigmatic poet, John Donne.
Donne was born in 1572, into Catholicism. His brother was persecuted under Elizabeth I law for practicing this when Donne was two years old. As Donne grew older, he was denied a university education at one stage due to his faith.
After eloping, he was imprisoned and had to establish the legality of his marriage before being re united with his wife. During the following decade, he engaged in polemical writings against Catholicism which he had been born into. He wrote, during the sixteen years, whilst married to his wife, pieces which showed how he was going through a crisis of conscience which resulted in his rejection of Catholicism and induction into the Church of England. After his wife died during the birth of their twelfth child, Donne began to doubt his spiritual worthiness. Some time during this time, he wrote a controversial poem, ?Biathantos? (which was published fifteen years after his death) which was a defence of suicide. There was definitely a real question of the worthiness of his life, inflicted upon him from the constant pressure of religion.
Donne proceeded to pen the ?Holy Sonnets? which must be read and observed with an open mind as to the circumstances which Donne lived his life, the struggle which he was going through the loss of his wife and his own poor health as well as the damning reality of Heaven and Hell during Elizabethan times. For example, ?Batter my Heart? is a sonnet where Donne uses the device of paradox to argue his point. He believes that he is not worthy of Heaven, that God will view him this way and therefore, God must ravish him in order to be pure. These images put forward are extremely powerful and the language used in this poem is violent, such as ?Your force to break, blow, burn and make me new?. This argument would have been frowned upon, and still is not considered uncontroversial. The critics of the eighteenth century considered Donne?s work ?metaphysical?, which they used as a term of abuse. Metaphysical, meaning of the emotions and physically and the critics disliked this as they considered it emphasis on tricks of argument and that Donne?s writing was no ore than a superficial display of ingenuity. There is little doubt of the metaphysical quality of Donne?s work. For example, ?A Valediction : Forbidding Mourning? apparently written for his wife, uses the famous conceit of a compass. ?they are two so / As stiff twin compasses are two.? Donne compares their love two a compass, with two arms, one leaning out to other. Another always staying till as it is the centre of the other?s world.
There is much to obtained from his poetry, which reflects ideas of Donne?s era. To cite an instance is in ?A Valediction : Forbidding Mourning?, there is the reference to alchemy through beating gold so thin. This displays Donne?s knowledge as well as ideas of this time. This conceit used is saying that gold, the most durable of the elements can be beaten so thin it can not be seen but will always be there ? just like their love. ?like gold to airy thinnesse beat?. Also in this poem, is the reference to the heavens above ? planetary action, which indicates the ideas, philosophies and knowledge of this point and time. It is also evident that from this that Donne was indeed well educated and aware of the world around him. ?The Apparition? is a poem which fictionalizes a lover, which Donne does not yet have but knows that she will cheat on him and tells her that when she does cheat on him, he will kill her with her 'scorn?. ?When by thy scorn, O murderess, I am dead.? He will then visit he when she is in bed with another lover, as a ghost, ?Then shall my ghost come to thy bed?, but he does not foretell what he will do to her. This is an instance again where the Elizabethan culture shines through; the belief in ghosts was a very real one and a frightening occurrence ? perhaps more so than today. ?The Sunne Rising? is a poem in which Donne refers to the sun in such a profane manner, beginning the poem with ?Busy old fool, unruly sun?, quite controversial as the sun was so high on the medieval chain of being. This again is an instance where is life and times is reflected in his poetry. In the Holy Sonnet, ?Batter my heart?, Donne compares himself to a ?usurpt town?, a concept which would have been commonplace in his day, so much for us here now. Another Holy Sonnet, ?At the Round Earth?s Imagined Corners? the potential chaos of Judgement Day is portrayed by Donne , in such a manner extremely reminiscent of how one would consider a painting portraying Judgement Day, such as Michelangelo?s in the Sistine Chapel. Grave images indeed, these sonnets pre occupied with death. Death, which would have been all around Donne during this time, not just around himself ? as he was ill, but with his wife, when he died ? only being survived by six o his children as well of the prevalence that death would have had in Elizabethan society.
