The Holy Sonnets
By John Donne
()
About this ebook
John Donne was born on the 22nd January 1572 in London, into a Roman Catholic family when Catholicism was illegal in England, and there was turbulence and unrest with both state and church throughout much of Europe.
His father, also named John, died when he was four, and his mother, Elizabeth Haywood, married a wealthy widower, ensuring the family were looked after. He received a good education at both Oxford and Cambridge but was unable to obtain a degree without taking the oath of supremacy, which as a Catholic he refused to do.
During the 1590s, Donne wrote a wide range of verses, including both erotic and sacred poems, creating two major volumes of work. His strong vivacious and sensual style fusing intellect and passion, as well as inventive use of subtle argument and syntax, provided a new radical perspective that reached beyond his contemporaries, and continued to chime and charm poetry lovers throughout the ages.
Difficult to believe that with this enormous talent, Donne lived in poverty for many years, exacerbated by his secret marriage to Anne Moore, which meant no dowry, and they having twelve children. Later he served in Parliament and became Dean of St Paul's in 1621, noted for his learned and charismatic sermons.
John Donne died in London on the 31st March 1631, but leaves an enormous legacy of many splendid influential poems. He was known as the founder of the Metaphysical Movement and is widely regarded as one of Britain's best-loved poets.
John Donne
Enter the Author Bio(s) here.
Read more from John Donne
50 Classic Love Poems You Have To Read (Golden Deer Classics) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Complete Poems of John Donne Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions Together with Death's Duel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSelected Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Poems Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Greatest Poems of John Donne Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Love Poems of John Donne Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDeath Be Not Proud Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCollected Poems of John Donne - A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning + 57 other Songs and Sonnets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poetical Works of John Donne: A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning + 57 other Songs and Sonnets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poetry of John Donne Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn Death Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLetters to Severall Persons of Honour Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poetry Of Death Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Holy Sonnets
Related ebooks
Sonnets And Other Verses Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Fatal Force Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAceldama Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twenty Six Choice Poetical Extracts Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSelected Works of Voltairine de Cleyre Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGoosebumps Ii and Other New Poetry Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPoems on Serious and Sacred Subjects Printed only as Private Tokens of Regard, for the Particular Friends of the Author Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poetry Of Anne Killigrew Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSonnets from the Portuguese Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Canon: The Work of St. Andrew of Crete Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Revenge: A Tragedy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsImpure (Chronicles and Words of Baldwin “the Leper” King of Jerusalem) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMisterium Passionis Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDivorce Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAntigone Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lays and Legends (Second Series) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Essays of Francis Bacon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poetry Hour - Volume 8: Time For The Soul Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChrist the King: Sacred Poems Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAbsalom & Achitophel: “Great wits are to madness near allied, And thin partitions do their bounds divide.” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRend The Heavens Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPsalms Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Poetry of John Bunyan - Volume II: “You have not lived today until you have done something for someone who can never repay you.” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsElectra Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsLollingdon Downs, and Other Poems, with Sonnets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Greatest Poems of John Donne Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Preparation for Death (annotated & illustrated) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pericles, Prince of Tyre Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn Memoriam A.H.H.: “Dreams are true while they last, and do we not live in dreams?” Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBook of Psalms in Plain English: A Contemporary Reading of Tehillim Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Poetry For You
The Way Forward Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey: (The Stephen Mitchell Translation) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad: The Fitzgerald Translation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Iliad of Homer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Tao Te Ching: A New English Version Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Prophet Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Inward Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Poems That Make Grown Men Cry: 100 Men on the Words That Move Them Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Edgar Allan Poe: The Complete Collection Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Daily Stoic: A Daily Journal On Meditation, Stoicism, Wisdom and Philosophy to Improve Your Life Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5You Better Be Lightning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beowulf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dante's Inferno: The Divine Comedy, Book One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Selected Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For colored girls who have considered suicide/When the rainbow is enuf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Odyssey Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Beyond Thoughts: An Exploration Of Who We Are Beyond Our Minds Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Odyssey Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Complete Poems of Emily Dickinson Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Leaves of Grass: 1855 Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Waste Land and Other Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Things We Don't Talk About Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Twenty love poems and a song of despair Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bedtime Stories for Grown-ups Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Love Her Wild: Poems Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gilgamesh: A New English Version Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Divine Comedy: Inferno Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Holy Sonnets
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Holy Sonnets - John Donne
The Holy Sonnets by John Donne
also known as The Divine Meditations or Divine Sonnets
John Donne was born on the 22nd January 1572 in London, into a Roman Catholic family when Catholicism was illegal in England, and there was turbulence and unrest with both state and church throughout much of Europe.
His father, also named John, died when he was four, and his mother, Elizabeth Haywood, married a wealthy widower, ensuring the family were looked after. He received a good education at both Oxford and Cambridge but was unable to obtain a degree without taking the oath of supremacy, which as a Catholic he refused to do.
During the 1590s, Donne wrote a wide range of verses, including both erotic and sacred poems, creating two major