John Donne (1572–1631) was an English poet, scholar, and preacher, one of the most important figures in English literature and the leading representative of Metaphysical poetry. He was born in London on January 22, 1572, into a prosperous Roman Catholic family at a time when Catholics faced discrimination in England. He studied at Oxford and Cambridge but did not receive a degree because he refused to swear allegiance to the doctrines of the Church of England. He later studied law at Lincoln’s Inn.
In 1601, Donne secretly married Anne More, the niece of his employer. The marriage caused a scandal, and Donne was briefly imprisoned and lost his position. The couple had twelve children, most of whom survived to adulthood. During the following years he experienced financial difficulties, but gradually gained the favor of King James I.
Over time, Donne moved away from Catholicism and joined the Anglican Church. In 1615 he was ordained as a priest, received a Doctor of Divinity degree, and was later appointed Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in London. His sermons were considered among the finest of his age and established his reputation as one of England’s greatest preachers.
Despite his distinguished religious career, Donne is remembered primarily for his poetry. He wrote love poems, satires, religious meditations, and works exploring death and the human condition. Among his most famous poems are *The Flea*, *A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning*, and *Death Be Not Proud*. During his lifetime he generally avoided publishing his poems, preferring to circulate them in manuscript form among friends and members of the aristocracy. The first major collection of his poetry was published posthumously in 1633.
In his work *Devotions upon Emergent Occasions* (1624), Donne wrote the famous lines “No man is an island” and “Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee,” which later inspired the title of Ernest Hemingway’s novel *For Whom the Bell Tolls*.
