by John Donne

John Donne (1572-1631) was born in London to Roman Catholic parents; his father, a successful hardware merchant, died when Donne was four, and Donne’s mother, who was descended from the English Catholic martyr Sir Thomas More, married a doctor who raised the boy and his five brothers and sisters. After attending Oxford and probably Cambridge, Donne returned to London, converted from Catholicism to Anglicanism, and sought a career at court. He served on two privateering expeditions against the Spanish and in 1597 won a position as secretary to the English courtier Sir Thomas Egerton, a job that he performed successfully for several years and that promised a good chance of future advancement. In 1601, however, Donne secretly married 17-year-old Anne More, the niece of Egerton’s wife. This transgression cost him his job, his enraged employer’s trust, and ultimately the secular...