Context

Question 1

Who was Donne a relative of?

Answer 1

Sir Thomas Moore, a catholic martyr

Question 2

Why did Donne attend Oxford at such a young age?

Answer 2

To avoid having to subscribe to Queen Elizabeth’s religious supremacy - 39 articles which pledged allegiance to the Protestant faith

Question 3

What school did Donne attend after Oxford and how long did he stay there?

Answer 3

Enrolled at Lincoln’s Inn in 1592 to study law. Remained there for 2-4 years

Question 4

Why was Donne’s brother arrested?

Answer 4

His brother Henry was harbouring a Catholic priest named William Harrington. He later died in Newgate prison from the plague.

Question 5

What were Donne’s elegies inspired by?

Answer 5

Said to be influenced by Christopher Marlowe’s translation of Ovid’s Amores

Question 6

What did Donne do in 1596?

Answer 6

He accompanied the earl of Sussex on his expedition against the Spanish catholics in Cadiz

Question 7

What did Donne then do following his expedition to Cadiz?

Answer 7

In 1597 he became secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton, a highly influential figure who was Lord keeper of the great seal.

Question 8

When did Donne become a member of parliament?

Answer 8

1601

Question 9

What also happened whilst Donne was a member of parliament?

Answer 9

He met Anne More, niece of Sir Thomas Egerton. They secretly married in 1601. Donne was 29 and Anne was only 17.

Question 10

What were the repercussions of Donne’s marriage to Anne more?

Answer 10

After finding out, George Egerton (Anne’s father) demanded that Donne be dismissed from his position at parliament and imprisoned. Donne was later released but had to seek financial support from friends.

Question 11

What did Donne write following his imprisonment?

Answer 11

Conclave Ignati - presented biting satire on the Roman Catholic faith.

Question 12

What else did Donne write in 1610?

Answer 12

He wrote a funeral elegy for Sir Robert Drury following the death of his daughter, Elizabeth.

Question 13

How did Donne’s relationship with Robert Drury develop?

Answer 13

He was invited to join the family on their travels around Europe. Donne’s wife and children stayed home (contact for a valediction forbidding mourning)

Question 14

What happened after Donne’s return from Europe?

Answer 14

Donne and his family stayed in a house belonging to Drury and remained there until 1621

Question 15

What did Donne do during the the period of 1610 to 1621 concerning his career?

Answer 15

He became a member of parliament for Taunton and commenced writing his Essays in Divinity

Question 16

What happened in 1615?

Answer 16

Donne was ordained as Deacon for St Paul’s cathedral and then shorty afterwards ordained at Royal Chaplain.

Question 17

What happened in 1617

Answer 17

Donne’s wife Anne More died after giving birth to a still born child

Question 18

Year of Donne’s promotion

Answer 18

In 1621 he was promoted to dean of St. Paul’s cathedral.

Question 19

When did Donne die and when were his works published?

Answer 19

He died in 1631 and his works were posthumously published in 1633. However, he wasn’t very widely known and his poetry was only distributed in commonplace books .

Question 20

Quote from Ben Johnson

Answer 20

“Donne, for not being understood, would perish”

Question 21

Quote from John Dryden

Answer 21

“Donne affects the metaphysics and perplexes the minds of the fair sex with nice speculations of philosophy, when he should engage their hearts and entertain them with the softness of love.”

Question 22

Quote by Samuel Johnson

Answer 22

“To show their learning was their whole endeavour…the most heterogenous of ideas are yoked by violence together.”

Question 23

Quote from poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Answer 23

“When the writer thinks, and expects the reader to do so.”

Question 24

What T.S. Elliot wrote of one of Donne’s conceits

Answer 24

“A development of rapid association of thought which requires considerable agility on the part of the reader”

Question 25

Quote from Collin burrow

Answer 25

“It is traditionally said that the metaphysical poets were united by the use of far-fetched comparisons, or ‘conceits’ that drew attention to their own ingenuity…these poets are metaphysical in the sense that they combine thought (or metaphysical speculation) with feeling.”

Question 26

Quote from Dame Helen Gardner “it…

Answer 26

“It makes demands upon the reader and challenged him to make it out”

Question 27

Quote from Dame Helen Gardner “in Donne’s poetry…

Answer 27

“The reader is held to an idea of a line of argument.”

Question 28

Quote from Dame Helen Gardner “a conceit …

Answer 28

“A conceit is a comparison whose ingenuity is more striking than its justness.”

Question 29

Quote from Dame Helen Gardner “metaphysical poetry…

Answer 29

“Metaphysical poetry is known for its abrupt personal opening in which a man speaks to his mistress, or addresses his god, or sets a scene, or calls us to mark upon this or that.”

Question 30

Quote from John Stubbs “he became..

Answer 30

“He became on of the great spiritual and secular writers of the late Renaissance”

Question 31

Another quote from John Stubbs

Answer 31

“As a student, Donne’s feisty, barbed, demonically clever verse was admired and imitated by close coateries of readers, most of them friends or poetically minded young men.”

Question 32

A quote from Donne himself

Answer 32

“I cannot plead innocently of life, especially of my youth.”