Contextual background and critical perspectives to support learning of John Donne's poetry. Concise and clearly separated under headings. Key information grouped into themes providing background on Donne's life and contemporary literary culture (AO3). Also containing a varied selection of critical ...
b. 1572 into a devout Catholic family
studied at Oxford, travelled on the Continent, studied law at Lincoln’s Inn
1596, Donne joined the Earl of Essex’s military expeditions to the Cadiz Islands and the
Azores
1597, Donne becomes secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton
Donne falls in love with Egerton’s niece Anne More.
1601, Donne secretly marries Anne More
Donne loses his position in Egerton’s service but marriage is declared legal in 1602
Following his marriage Donne is an MP and Justice of the Peace. He obtains temporary
positions and patronage from a number of aristocrats e.g. Countess of Bedford
1615, ordained as an Anglican minister.
1617, Anne More dies in childbirth to their 12th child
1621, Donne appointed Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral
Reputation as a wit, ladies’ man and priest
CONTEXT POINTS
Monarchy - Courtship rituals and conventions
Twilight of Elizabethan era (some say misogyny in elegies is a critique of female power)
- Uncertainty of a new era. Phoenix is an outdated Elizabethan image
- Spenser’s The Faerie Queen
James I comes to power in 1603. King’s new ‘real’
- Divine Right of Kings
Elizabeth I’s court was based off the ideals of preferment and favour found in Petrarch
- Donne had patronage from many aristocrats such as the Countess of Bedford
Jacobean court – Machiavellian body politick
- Catholics denied preferment
- Gluttony and feasting, corruption at court, £100 k to favourites in 1607
The church, religion and the afterlife
Time of great religious turmoil, Catholic persecution following Bloody Mary’s reign
- Gunpowder Plot 1605
Donne originally a devout Catholic, yet converted to Protestantism
- Catholic imagery is often ironic as Donne is an apostate, and would have been sent
to hell for this.
Ideas and beliefs about personal morality
Ideas and beliefs about religion and the afterlife
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