HOME » WORKSHOPS » POETRY » JOHN DONNE, "A VALEDICTION: FORBIDDING MOURNING" » BIOGRAPHY

John Donne, "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning"

BIOGRAPHY

Reading » Re-Reading » Explorations

[From The Norton Introduction to Literature]

(1572–1631)

The first and greatest of the English writers who came to be known as the Metaphysical poets, John Donne wrote in a revolutionary style that combined highly intellectual conceits with complex, compressed phrasing. Born into an old Roman Catholic family at a time when Catholics were subject to constant harassment, Donne quietly abandoned his religion and had a promising legal career until a politically disastrous marriage ruined his worldly hopes. He struggled for years to support a large family; impoverished and despairing, he even wrote a treatise (Biathanatos) on the lawfulness of suicide. King James (who had ambitions for him as a preacher) eventually pressured Donne to take Anglican orders in 1615, and Donne became one of the great sermonizers of his day, rising to the position of dean of St. Paul's Cathedral in 1621. Donne's private devotions (“Meditations”) were published in 1624, and he continued to write poetry until a few years before his death.

Icon Directory
In The Portable Intro to Literature
In The Seagull Reader
In Portable & The Seagull Reader