john,donne

篇一：John Donne简介

John Donne by 书剑飘零 ( between 24 January and 19 June 1572 – 31 March 1631)

1. Literary status

He is an English poet, satirist, lawyer and priest. He is considered the pre-eminent representative of the metaphysical poets.

2. Personal life

1） Donne was born in London, into a Roman Catholic family when practice of that religion was illegal in England.

2） Donne was the third of six children. His father, also named John

Donne, was of Welsh descent and a warden of the Ironmongers Company in the City of London.

3） He studied both at Oxford and Cambridge, but left without taking a

degree because of his Roman Catholic background.

4） In 1591, Donne began his legal studies at the Inns of Court in

London, where he learned law, languages, literature and theology.

5） He married Egerton's niece Anne More in 1601, this wedding

ruined his career .

6） He travelled Europe countries for many years, first in Italy, and

then in Spain, where he made many useful observations of those countries, their laws and manner of government, and returned perfect in their languages.

7） Donne was elected as Member of Parliament for the constituency

of Brackley in 1602, but this was not a paid position. In 1618 he became chaplain to Viscount Doncaster, who was on an embassy to the princes of Germany. In 1621 Donne was made Dean of St Paul's, a leading (and well-paid) position in the Church of England 8） He died on 31 March 1631 and was buried in old St Paul's

Cathedral .

3. Literary career

1） Style: Donne's works are also witty, employing paradoxes, puns, and subtle yet remarkable analogies. His pieces are often ironic and cynical, especially regarding love and human motives.

2） subjects of Donne's poems : love (especially in his early life),

death (especially after his wife's death), and religion.

3） Masterpiece: ： (Songs and Sonnets) 《歌与十四行诗》， (the

Elegies) 《挽歌》， (The First and Second Anniversaries ) 《一周年与二周年》，(Holy Sonnets)《圣十四行诗》， (Devotions upon Emergent Occasions) 《突发事件的祷告》.

篇二：John Donne

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? John Donne 1572-1631 Critical Points of Life Born into an old Roman Catholic family, at a time when anti-Catholic feeling in England was near its height. After quietly abandoning Catholicism some time, he had scruples about becoming an Anglican, which he at last did. The inheritance from father being far from enough, he had to make his way in the world indirectly—by wit, charm, learning, valor, and above all, favour. Donne was never quite without resources; yet, broadly speaking, the middle years of his life were a period of uncertainty and discontent. Donne’s Artistic Features His metaphysical style, bold/distinct erudition, and dramatic wit at once established him contemporaries. Donne created involve a major element of dramatic contrast or of intellectual strain. earlier love poetry appear in his poetry that seem to hold it together. Donne’s conceits leap continually in a restless orbit from personal to the cosmic and back again. stanzaic patterns。 ‘The Metaphysical School’ of Donne’s poetic style was widely felt, especially by writers whose taste

was formed before 1660. George Herbert, Richard Crashaw, Henry Vaughan, Andrew Marvell, and Abraham Cowley are only the best known of those in whom this influence is recognizable. The great change of taste that took place around 1660 threw Donne and the ‘concerted’ style out of fashion; during the 18th and 19th centuries both he and his followers were rarely read and still more rarely apprec(来自:www.sMHaiDa.com 海 达范文网:john,donne)iated.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, almost at once it started to exert an influence on modern poetic practice. ?

篇三：John Donne

The poetry of John Donne and other 17th century poets who wrote in a similar style . Metaphysical poetry is characterized by bold and ingenious conceits, incongruous imagery, complexity of thought, frequent use of paradox, and often by the deliberate harshness or rigidity of expression.

1、The main themes: love, death, religion 2、Representatives: John Donne, George Herbert etc. a kind of metaphor that makes a comparison between two startling different things. A conceit may strike the readers weird at first glance, but proves appropriate in the end. He was the founder of the Metaphysical school of poetry.

In his poetry, Donne frequently applies conceits. Donne's images are linked with new resources such as law, psychology and philosophy which . He seems to be speaking to an imagined hearer, raising the topic and trying to persuade, poem lacks in smoothness

、 In his life time, he exerted a measure of influence that none of his contemporaries ever dreamt of having. 2、 He was original and great and “the first poet of the world in some things" (quoted form Ben Johnson ) 3、 His poems are uneven in quality. His best poem can rank with those of the greatest poets of the world, but some of his poems are mere doggerel expressions of trivialities

篇四：John Donne

John Donne(1572-1631)

The greatest of the metaphysical poets

The clergyman John Donne was one of the most gifted poets in English literature. His work

had great influence on poets of the 17th and 20th centuries.

Points of View

? 1. Religious belief: born into a prosperous merchant family of Roman Catholicism, he doubted his faith

even early in his life. At 19, he began a serious study of theology. In 1615, he entered the Anglican Church and took orders.

? 2. Outlook: Influenced by scientific developments and growing skepticism, Donne thought the world

morbid, in which, according to him, there was no harmony, no symmetry, no beauty, no order. People had no other choice but wait for the ultimate destruction. Life in this world was meaningless.

? 3. View of love: idealism and cynicism

? 4. Philosophy of poetry: Metaphysical poetry is fusion of sentiments and wisdom, which is found in wits

or “conceits”.

? Metaphysical poetry is less concerned with expressing feeling than with analyzing it, with the poet

exploring the recesses of his consciousness. The boldness of the literary devices used--especially obliquity, irony, and paradox--are always reinforced by a dramatic directness of language, whose rhythm is derived from that of living speech.

Major works

? Poetry

? Prose

Poetical works

? The Elegies and Satires, early poetry patterned on classical models,

? The Songs and Sonnets, expresses his tender and cynical viewpoint on love. Donne holds that the nature

of love is the union of soul and body. Idealism and cynicism about love coexist in Donne's love poetry. When eulogizing a woman, Donne tells us very little about her physical beauty; the charms of rosy cheeks, and lips like cherry cannot be seen in his lines. Instead, Donne's interest lies in dramatizing and illustrating the state of being in love.

Religious poetry

? Holy Sonnets shows his love of God, but there is always an element of conflict or doubt.

Prose works

? Donne's great prose works are his sermons, which are both rich and imaginative, exhibiting the same kind

of physical vigor and scholastic complexity as his poetry.

? His weekly sermons are an intellectual exercise supplying food for thought, a purging of conscience, and

a study of rhetoric.

? Some of Donne's sermons are carefully contrived with a dramatic, irregular immediacy to express a

concern with personal quest for religious experience rather than settled certainties.

Metaphysical Poets

? The ‘Metaphysical Poets’ are an important group of 17th-century poet who wrote under the influence of

John Donne, leader of the school, including George Herbert, Edmund Waller, John Denham, Abraham Cowley, Henry Vaughan, William D'Avenant, Andrew Marwell, and Richard Crashaw.

? With a rebellious spirit, the metaphysical poets tried to break away from the conventional fashion of

Elizabethan love poetry.

? 1. The diction is simple as compared with that of the Elizabethan or the Neoclassic periods, and echoes

the words and cadences of common speech.

? 2. The imagery is drawn from actual life.

? 3. The form is frequently that of an argument with the poet’s beloved, with God, or with himself. Characteristics

? A. The term metaphysical poetry is used to describe a school of highly intellectual poetry marked by bold

and ingenious conceits, incongruous imagery, complexity of thought, frequent use of paradox, and often by deliberate harshness or rigidity of expression.

? B. In metaphysical poetry emotions are shaped and expressed by logical reasoning. These logical

elements are typical characteristics of the best metaphysical poetry. But sometimes the logic argument and conceits become pervasive, going to preposterous dimensions.

? C. The main themes of metaphysical poets are love, death, and religion. According to them, all things in

the universe, no matter how dissimilar they are to each other, are closely unified in God.

? D. The diction is simple as compared with that of the Elizabethan or the Neoclassical Periods, and echoes

the words and cadences of common speech.

? E. The imagery is drawn from the commonplace or the remote, actual life or erudite sources, the figure

itself being elaborated with self-conscious ingenuity.

? F. The form is frequently that of an argument with the poet’s beloved, with God or with himself. ? G. The verse if often intentionally rough.

? H. Metaphysical poetry is marked by a crisp pointed wit that may find its focus in conceits of a special

type, which are used to connect the abstract with the concrete, the remote with the near, and the sublime with the commonplace.

Selected Readings

? The Sun Rising

? Death, Not Be Proud

The Sun Rising

? In this poem, the love’s wedding room has been intruded by the sun and the man takes offence at the

intrusion. He attacks the sun as an unruly servant, and finally he allows the sun to enter their chamber and warm them. The poem’s true subject is the lady—his true emotional love. Every insult to the sun is a compliment to the lady.

Death, Be Not Proud

? This is No. 10 from Donne’s Holy Sonnets.

? The poem reveals the writer’s belief in life after death. Here death is compared to rest or sleep. Death is

but momentary while happiness after death is eternal. But this religious idea is curiously expressed in the author’s supposed dialogue with ‘death’, as various reasons are given in the poem to argue against the common belief in death as ‘mighty’.

? This sonnet reads like a bold challenge to the proud ‘Death’. Under Donne’s pen, Death is neither

‘mighty’ nor ‘dreadful’, for men may derive ‘much pleasure’ from death, and ‘Death’ is a ‘slave’ to many things. The poem ends with the claim ‘Death, thou shalt die’. The poem presents an argument with its forcefulness, wit and dramatic comparison.

From the exams

? 41. "Busy old fool, unruly sun,

Why dost thou thus,

Through windows and through curtains call on us?"

Questions:

A. Identify the poem and the poet.

B. What does the word "fool" refer to?

C. What idea does the quotation express? (2003)

参考答案：

A It is taken from John Donne’s "The Sun Rising"

B. "fool" refers to the sun.

C. Donne’s great prose works are his sermons, the quotation expresses a strong sense of rebellious spirit, the author tried to break away from the conventional fashion of the Elizabethan love poetry. (P63+66)

41. “One short sleep past, we wake eternally,

And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die.”

Questions:

A. Identify the poem and the poet.

B. What does the word “sleep” mean?

C. What idea do the two lines express? (2004)

? A. John Donne: Death Be Not Proud

? B. Death

? C. Shortly after our death (compared to ‘sleep’, our soul will enter heaven and live happily forever.

篇五：john donne

John Donne) (between 24 January and 19 June 1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English poet, satirist, lawyer and a cleric in the Church of England. He is considered the pre-eminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are noted for their strong, sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, satires and sermons. His poetry is noted for its vibrancy of language and inventiveness of metaphor, especially compared to that of his contemporaries. Donne's style is characterized by abrupt openings and various paradoxes, ironies and dislocations. His early career was marked by poetry that bore immense knowledge of British society and he met that knowledge with sharp criticism. Another important theme in Donne’s poetry is the idea of true religion, something that he spent much time considering and theorizing about. He wrote secular poems as well as erotic and love poems. He is particularly famous for his mastery of metaphysical conceits.

Donne's earliest poems showed a developed knowledge of English society coupled with sharp criticism of its problems. Donne's early career was also notable for his erotic poetry, especially his elegies, in which he employed unconventional metaphors, such as a flea biting two lovers being compared to sex.

Having converted to the Anglican Church, Donne focused his literary career on religious literature. His early belief in the value of skepticism then gave way to a firm faith in the traditional teachings of the Bible.

Towards the end of his life Donne wrote works that challenged death, and the fear that it inspired in many men, on the grounds of his belief that those who die are sent to Heaven to live eternally. One example of this challenge is his Holy Sonnet X, Death Be Not Proud.

Despite his great education and poetic talents, Donne lived in poverty for several years, relying heavily on wealthy friends. He spent much of the money he inherited during and after his education on womanizing, literature, pastimes, and travel. In 1601, Donne secretly married Anne Moore, with whom he had twelve children. In 1615, he became an Anglican priest, although he did not want to take Anglican orders. In 1621, he was appointed the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral in London. He also served as a member of parliament in 1601 and in 1614.

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