Donne's "Selected Sermons", Title Page, 1640
Entitled: "LXXX sermons preached by that learned and reverend divine, John Donne, Dr in Divinity, late Deane of the cathedrall church of S. Pauls London", 1640. John Donne (January 22, 1572 - March 31, 1631) was an English poet and a cleric in the Church of England. His works are noted for their strong, sensual style and include sonnets, love poems, 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. His style is characterized by abrupt openings and various paradoxes, ironies and dislocations. These features, along with his frequent dramatic or everyday speech rhythms, his tense syntax and his tough eloquence, were both a reaction against the smoothness of conventional Elizabethan poetry and an adaptation into English of European baroque and mannerist techniques. He wrote secular poems as well as erotic and love poems. 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 More, with whom he had twelve children. In 1615, he became an Anglican priest, although he did not want to take Anglican orders. He did so because King James I persistently ordered it. It is thought that Donne's final illness was stomach cancer, although this has not been proven. He died in 1631 at the age of 59.
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