John Donne
Note in lingua inglese sulla vita e le opere principali del celebre poeta inglese del '600 (3 pagine formato doc)
Life
John Donne was born in London in 1572. He never took a degree because of his religion, in fact his father was a Roman Catholic which means that he had to hide from the England Church who was trying to impose Anglicanism to English people. Although he studied at Oxford and Cambridge and went to London to became law student he never took a degree because the oath of supremacy was required for graduates. He travelled around Europe and followed the count of Essex on his expeditions, and become secretary to an Elizabeth's official, Sir Egerton.
He was undertaking the career of diplomatic when he wasted everything by marrying a Sir Egerton's relative without permission. He got near to Anglicanism and become an eminent preacher whose sermons were very appreciated then he became Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral. He had a bad time and fell in paucity, his wife left him with several sons to look after. The death of his wife represented a nasty shock for him and this state will influence also in his poetry.
Works
He started as a love poet with his "songs and sonnets" , at that time this topic was very fashionable so he had quite success, due also to his capability of painting the society of the time. The second part of his life is dedicated at the writing of sermons (about 160) and religious poetry, like the "Divine meditation". Donne is famous because he belongs to the Metaphysical school which means he used wit, conceit and imagery. Wit means making comparison between terms and object that seemed to be so far from each other.
Another key word is conceit: it is a figure of speech that uses concrete images to convey abstract ideas and is one of Donne's most important features: he starts from the particular and then go to the abstract. Others features of his language are paradox, pun, simile and metaphor. His main themes are a new conception of love, that is a mixture of physical attraction, passion and spiritual feelings, and the duality between contrasts that has to be balanced through compromises.
John Donne was born in London in 1572. He never took a degree because of his religion, in fact his father was a Roman Catholic which means that he had to hide from the England Church who was trying to impose Anglicanism to English people. Although he studied at Oxford and Cambridge and went to London to became law student he never took a degree because the oath of supremacy was required for graduates. He travelled around Europe and followed the count of Essex on his expeditions, and become secretary to an Elizabeth's official, Sir Egerton.
He was undertaking the career of diplomatic when he wasted everything by marrying a Sir Egerton's relative without permission. He got near to Anglicanism and become an eminent preacher whose sermons were very appreciated then he became Dean of St. Paul's Cathedral. He had a bad time and fell in paucity, his wife left him with several sons to look after. The death of his wife represented a nasty shock for him and this state will influence also in his poetry.
Works
He started as a love poet with his "songs and sonnets" , at that time this topic was very fashionable so he had quite success, due also to his capability of painting the society of the time. The second part of his life is dedicated at the writing of sermons (about 160) and religious poetry, like the "Divine meditation". Donne is famous because he belongs to the Metaphysical school which means he used wit, conceit and imagery. Wit means making comparison between terms and object that seemed to be so far from each other.
Another key word is conceit: it is a figure of speech that uses concrete images to convey abstract ideas and is one of Donne's most important features: he starts from the particular and then go to the abstract. Others features of his language are paradox, pun, simile and metaphor. His main themes are a new conception of love, that is a mixture of physical attraction, passion and spiritual feelings, and the duality between contrasts that has to be balanced through compromises.