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John Donne
Life Time
21 January 1572 - 31 March 1631
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John Donne was born in London on 21 January 1572 into a Catholic family. He was a preacher, abbot of St. Paul’s Cathedral and a poet. It is still considered the largest representative of the English Baroque. John Donne is the author of a number of love sonnets, epigrams, elegies and poems. It was with translations of his works that the Russian Nobel laureate Joseph Brodsky began his career.
The poet’s father was the headman of the shop of local merchants in London, and his mother belonged to the
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John Donne was born in London on 21 January 1572 into a Catholic family. He was a preacher, abbot of St. Paul’s Cathedral and a poet. It is still considered the largest representative of the English Baroque.
John Donne is the author of a number of love sonnets, epigrams, elegies and poems. It was with translations of his works that the Russian Nobel laureate Joseph Brodsky began his career.
The poet’s father was the headman of the shop of local merchants in London, and his mother belonged to the family of a famous playwright at that time. John’s father died when he was only 3 years old, and his mother soon remarried to one of the wealthy representatives of the London nobility. Due to the family’s membership in the Catholic Church, all members were repeatedly harassed by local authorities.
He studied at Cambridge and Oxford universities, but since he was a Catholic, he could not get a diploma. He then went on to attend Lincoln's Inn School, where his brother also attended.
After graduation, John Donne lived off the money he inherited. From 1596 to 1597 he traveled and participated in military campaigns. Returning to England, he got a job as a secretary for one of the courtiers, subsequently began a secret relationship with the niece of the patron, and then married her secretly. After his employer found out, he kicked John out and got him imprisoned. After his release, Donne and his wife settled in the estates of her relatives in the County of Surrey, worked as a lawyer and was an assistant to the bishop.
A little later, he became a member of parliament twice, but his family constantly experienced financial difficulties. In 1621 he was appointed rector of St. Paul’s Cathedral, as he was extremely eloquent and possessed the gift of persuasion. To date, about 160 of his sermons have survived. John Donne passed away on March 31, 1631.
The first work of the poet appeared in 1610 under the title “Pseudomartyr”, it was directed against the Jesuit order. In 1611, John created Anatomy of the World, and in 1612, The Development of the Soul. His books published after his death are very popular now: “The Alchemy of Love”, “Death Contractions” and others.