Oct 7, 2008

John Donne's Songs and Sonnets | Biography

John Donne was born into a Roman Catholic family in 1572, a time when anti-Catholic feeling in England was at its height. Although he attended both Oxford and Cambridge, Donne did not attain a degree at either and began making his way in the world through his wit and charm. He was appointed to a post in Queen Elizabeth’s court in 1598 and sat in her last parliament. However, his marriage to seventeen-year-old Anne More in 1601 offended many, ruined his immediate hopes of financial and social success, and landed him in prison for several weeks. Donne later joked, “John Donne, Anne Donne,...