John Donne. by Giulia Botta

giuliabotta6 — 2015-05-16 16:08:43 UTC

Donne was born in London, into a Roman Catholic family when practice of that religion was illegal in England. Donne was the third of six children. His father, also named John Donne, was of Welsh descent. His father died in 1576, when Donne was four years old, leaving his son and his widow, Elizabeth Heywood, with the responsibility of raising their children alone. She was a great-niece of the Roman Catholic martyr Thomas More. Donne was educated privately. Donne's mother married Dr. John Syminges, a widower with three children. Two more of his sisters, Mary and Katherine, died in 1581. Donne's mother, died in 1632.

Elizabeth Heywood.

giuliabotta6 — 2015-05-16 16:12:04 UTC

giuliabotta6 — 2015-05-16 16:13:08 UTC

In 1583, when he was eleven, Donne began studing in Oxford. After three years of studies there, he was admitted to the University of Cambridge, where he studied for another three years. During and after his education, Donne spent much of his inheritance on women, literature, pastimes and travel. He did cross Europe and later fought against the Spanish at Cadiz and the Azores.

giuliabotta6 — 2015-05-16 16:13:39 UTC

During the next four years, he fell in love with Anne More. They were married just before Christmas in 1601. This wedding ruined Donne's career and earned him a short stay in Fleet Prison, along with Samuel Brooke, who married them. After his release, Donne had to accept a retired country life in Pyrford, Surrey. Anne bore John twelve children in sixteen years of marriage; she spent most of her married life either pregnant or nursing. Three of their children died before they were ten. His wife died on 15 August 1617, five days after giving birth to their twelfth child. Donne wrote of his love and loss in his 17th Holy Sonnet. A few months before his death, Donne commissioned this portrait of himself as he expected to appear when he rose from the grave at the Apocalypse. In 1621 Donne was made Dean of St Paul's, a leading position in the Church of England and one he held until his death in 1631. During his period as Dean his daughter Lucy died, aged eighteen. In late November and early December 1623 he suffered a nearly fatal illness.

Anne More.

giuliabotta6 — 2015-05-16 16:13:58 UTC

Donne's works

clarissa_balloc — 2015-05-18 18:20:41 UTC

John Donne for the first half of his life travelled a lot, he took part in military expeditions and had a lot of experiences of all types. In this period he wrote some poems, collected in 1633 after his death under the name of Song and Sonnets.

The poet was born in a Catholic family, but in 1615 he renounced this faith for the Anglican one, in this way his problems ended and from this moment on he conduced a measured life. In this period he wrote some sermons and a collection of sonnets called Holy Sonnets and they are totally different from the first ones because in this last ones Donne thinks about his errors and is frightened by the idea of having repented too late.

Songs and Sonnets

clarissa_balloc — 2015-05-18 18:28:29 UTC

Donne was independent from the literature of his time because he wrote love songs instead of sonnets, like poets were used to at those times. Donne’s love songs were collected and given the name of Songs and Sonnets, even if there is not a sonnet in this collection.

In this songs, Donne shows himself: he was a young man who really did not care about the woman he loved, so he writes about physical and spiritual love as if he is treating the same thing, for this reason we can understand that he had experienced what he was writing about.

the e

clarissa_balloc — 2015-05-18 18:29:44 UTC

the end

clarissa_balloc — 2015-05-18 18:29:44 UTC

Donne's style

clarissa_balloc — 2015-05-18 18:39:55 UTC

Donne is a metaphysical writer because his style is really difficult to understand and he also introduced some innovations to the poetry of his time:

he used a colloquial style, for example in the sonnet Death Be Not Proud he speaks directly to the Death, as if they were friends;

he used the paradox, which is an exaggerated sentence;

he used the pun, or better the use of two words with the same pronunciation but different meaning;

he used the conceit that is the use of an unusual image to express an idea, for example the lovers are compared to a compass.

A VALEDICTION: FORBIDDING MOURNING

clarissa_balloc — 2015-05-18 18:42:35 UTC

Sonnet

Translation

clarissa_balloc — 2015-05-18 18:47:38 UTC

UNA PARTENZA: VIETATO PIANGERE

Come gli uomini virtuosi se ne vanno quieti ,
e sussurrano alle loro anime di andare
mentre alcuni dei loro tristi amici dicono
“il respiro se ne va adesso” ed altri dicono di no,

così sciogliamoci senza far rumore,
senza fiumi di lacrime, ne’ tempestosi terremoti di sospiri,
sarebbe una profanazione delle nostre gioie
dire che il nostro amore è mondano.

I movimenti della terra portano dolori e paure,
gli uomini ne riconoscono l’essenza ed il significato,
ma la trepidazione delle sfere,
anche se di gran lunga più grande, è innocente.

L’amore degli ottusi amanti sublunari
(la cui anima è senso) non può ammettere
l’assenza, perché essa rimuove
quelle cose che l’hanno generata.

Ma a noi con un amore, così raffinato,
che noi stessi non sappiamo cosa sia,
vicendevolmente sicuri della mente,
importa meno di occhi, labbra e mani che mancano.

Le nostre due anime perciò, che sono una,
anche se io devo andare non soffrono in verità
una separazione, ma un’espansione,
come oro battuto che si allarga aereo.

Se devono essere due, sono due così
come le aste gemelle del compasso sono due,
la tua anima il piede fisso, non mostra
di muoversi, ma lo fa, se l’altra lo fa.

Ed anche se essa sta al centro,
quando l’altra gira lontano,
essa si piega, e si protende verso l’altra,
e diventa eretta, quando ritorna a casa.

Così saremo tu ed io, che devo
come l’altro piede, correre obliquamente;
la tua fermezza rende il mio cerchio perfetto,
e mi fa finire, dove io ho avuto inizio.