CONTEXT - DONNE

CONTEXT - DONNE

1. NEO-PLATONISM

   • School of thought deriving from Plato - revived in the Renaissance
   • Stressed that the material world is a PATH to the spiritual realm, rather than an obstacle or diversion
   • Lovers could practice a Neoplatonic love in that their ultimate goal might be to understand divine beauty - they could still appreciate the bodily beauty of their earthly lover in order to further their spiritual quest
   • For Donne: love was the soul and the body working together in tandem - CONNECTION BETWEEN SEXUAL AND DIVINE LOVE

2. DONNE'S MARRIAGE

   • Ann was the niece of Sir Thomas Egerton - who Donne was working for and living with
     • Betrayed every trust - personal, professional, political
   • Marriage was only discovered after they had made a clandestine marriage that could not be broken without loss of honour
   • Donne was imprisoned and lost his job due to the marriage
     • His biographer: "the remarkable error of [Donne's] life"
   • Ann died in 1617 during the birth of their 12th child

3. CATHOLIC BACKGROUND

   • Law required monthly attendance at CofE services
   • Donne's search for the 'one true church' because a search for truth itself
   • Born in 1572 to an ancient Catholic family - grew up in a time where punitive punishments against Catholics were intensifying
   • Arguably that Donne never truly recovered (in spiritual terms) from his betrayal of what he must have considered the 'true religion'
   • Related to Thomas Moore - executed for refusing to toe the Protestant line

4. BECOMING AN ANGLICAN PRIEST

   • Apostasy to Anglicanism often viewed as an expediency to safeguard his life and position
   • After Donne lost job with Egerton, he failed to gain professional stability - persuaded by King James to become an Anglican Minister
   • 1616: Appointed Reader in Divinity at Lincoln's Inn
   • 1623: became Dean of St Pauls
     • Preaching was 'terrifying'

5. ASTRONOMY

   • Shift towards scientific endeavour and human search for knowledge about the world
     • In opposition to the medieval notion that the natural world could only be explained by reference to God's divine plan

6. DEATH

   • 1593: Donne's brother Henry died in Newgate prison
   • Even uses references to death imagery in love poetry - 32 out of the 54 Songs and Sonnets contain some reference to death

7. CALVINISM AND PREDESTINATION

   • John Calvin - powerful influence in English religion
   • Taught that salvation was only possible as a gift from God, but God had already chosen those whom he had elected, or decided to save.
   • From the beginning of time, God had predestined some to salvation and others to damnation

8. ATTITUDES TO SIN

   • Often views salvation in as eschatological (end of the world) or apocalyptic (revelation) perspective
   • Anguish in his poetry is an indication of how seriously he regards his sin and how deep is his need to salvation

9. ATTITUDES TO PETRARCHAN POETRY

   • Mocks the futility of the conventional Petrarchan lover
     • SONG
   • Both utilises and rejection Petrarchan notions of love
   • Use of startlingly non-romantic imagery reflects a challenge to the conventions of the Petrarchan form
     • THE FLEA
       • The woman is not remote (Petrarchan idea) but in the bedroom

10. HIS AUDIENCE

    • Not intended for general public - addressed to an exclusive private audience (his lover, close friends, fellow poets, potential or valued patrons, God
      • Made friends promise not to make copies
    • Only published a few poems - regretted it
    • Plays and books subject to censorship - Donne could write more openly about sex etc if writing to a public audience
    • Expected his readers to be astute enough to understand his intricate syntax and to conceptualise his metaphors
    • First edition of his poems appeared in 1633 (died in 1631) - sold so well than an expanded edition appeared two years later

11. RENAISSANCE (15th CENTURY)

    • Start of a changing world
    • Voyages eg Columbus (the Americas)
    • Scientific discoveries (eg Keplar 1609, Galileo 1910 - the earth was not the centre of the universe
    • Chain of Being - God at the top
    • 1454: Invention of printing press - democratisation of ideas
    • 1533: Henry VIII breaks with Papacy
    • 1649: Charles I executed after Civil War

12. SOCIAL STRUCTURES

    • Rise of landed gentry - land ownership gave social status and political authority
    • Primogeniture (inheritance by first born sons) drove younger sons into trades
    • Financial needs led to marriage with city heiresses
    • Donne ached to be an "insider" of the aristocracy - did this by studying Law at Lincoln's Inn
      • His father was a prosperous tradesman