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John Donne
John Donne (1572 – 31 March 1631) was an English Jacobean poet, preacher and a major representative of the metaphysical poets of his time.
Despite his great education and poetic talents he lived in poverty for several years, relying heavily on wealthy friends. In 1615 he became an Anglican priest and, in 1621, was appointed the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in London. Some scholars believe that Donne’s literary works reflect these trends, with love poetry and satires from his youth and religious sermons during his later years.
GRE Reading List
The metaphysical poets were a loose group of British lyric poets of the 17th century, who shared an interest in metaphysical concerns and a common way of investigating them. The label “metaphysical” was given much later by in his . These poets themselves did not form a school or start a movement; most of them did not even know or read each other. Their style was characterized by wit, subtle arguments, “metaphysical conceits”, and/or an unusual simile or metaphor such as in Andrew Marvell’s comparison of the soul with a drop of dew. Several metaphysical poets, especially John Donne, were influenced by . One of the primary Platonic concepts found in metaphysical poetry is the idea that the perfection of beauty in the beloved acted as a remembrance of perfect beauty in the eternal realm. In a famous definition , the Hungarian Marxist critic, described the school’s common trait of “looking beyond the palpable” and “attempting to erase one’s own image from the mirror in front so that it should reflect the not-now and not-here” as foreshadowing existentialism. Though secular subjects drew them (in particular matter drawn from the new science, from the expanding geographical horizons of the period, and from dialectic) there was also a strong casuistic element to their work, defining their relationship with God.
For the GRE, the primary metaphysical poets you should know are:
John Donne
Andrew Marvell
Richard Lovelace
George Herbert
If you like this audio book of Paradise Lost so far, go to to hear the compete work.
If you’re really into it, you can read the 1667, 10 book version of Paradise Lost in PDF format . This won’t help you for the GRE of course, but it might remind you why you’re taking this test in the first place.
Paradise Lost: 02 – Book One, Part 2
The Paradise Lost call this part “Satan and Hell”.