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Seventeenth-Century-Donne and Jonson

Published on Nov 18, 2015

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PRESENTATION OUTLINE

Seventeenth-Century

LYRIC AND NARRATIVE POETRY

beginning of the 17th century, with the death of Queen Elizabeth

social tensions would ultimately rip England apart for almost 20 years became acute

merchants of the middle class, who were often Puritan in their sympathies, gained more power through the reigns of James I and Charles I

Younger associates of William Shakespeare, such as Ben Jonson were changing the face of drama and literature in general

poets, such as John Donne were experimenting with rough and dramatic poetry that explored personal and spiritual themes

Jonson, especially, set himself up as the forerunner of the professional literary man

He began in the theater as an actor and a playwright

He, along with other playwrights, also composed poetry; Jonson began to make an independent living at it by becoming Poet Laureate

Jonson had never attended a university

set himself up as a scholar, a critic, a translator, and the founder of a poetic school, first called the Sons (or Tribe) of Ben

became the unofficial literary dictator of early 17th-century London

By 1640, the strict rule of Charles I had so inflamed the Puritan members of Parliament that open rebellion began

In 1642, all theaters in England were closed. They would not reopen until the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660

In 1649, Charles was executed, and Parliament formed a republican government called the Commonwealth

failure of the Commonwealth a few years later led to the Puritan dictatorship of the Protectorate under Oliver Cromwell

Two years after Cromwell's death in 1658, the Protectorate was replaced by a renewed monarchy under Charles II

restoration of royal power caused major changes in literary taste, especially in terms of the revived medium of drama

Donne and Jonson

two major poets of the early 17th century, Ben Jonson and John Donne, differ both in their poetic styles and their biographies

Jonson, coming out of the theater and the army, and having escaped hanging for killing a man in a duel through benefit of clergy (an English law absolving people from the death penalty if they had the ability to read), was always a controversial figure

He fought "literary wars" with other poets

insulted Scotland early in the reign of James and was imprisoned for it

converted to Catholicism

suspected in the Gunpowder Plot to blow up the buildings of Parliament

hounded by James' secret police and reconverted to Anglicanism

his poetry, which is smooth and rhythmic, imitates Greek and Roman verses and was intended to be public

He wrote elegies and epitaphs, compliments and tributes, songs, epigrams (short satiric poems with an unexpected twist), and philosophical poems on the nature of the good life

inspired and mentored a group of younger poets−Robert Herrick, Thomas Carew, and Sir John Suckling, among others

−who were first known as the Sons of Ben but later became known as the Cavalier Poets

name Cavalier had political significance:
during the Puritan revolution
the Parliamentary armies

Also known as the Roundheads, while royalist forces were known as the Cavaliers

John Donne

-started his literary life as a rakish outsider
-a melancholy lover of many women trying to find a position at court

born in 1572 to a Roman Catholic family, but seemed to have quietly abandoned that faith sometime in the 1590s

participated in military expeditions against Spain after taking training at both Oxford and Cambridge Universities and serving an apprenticeship as a lawyer at London's Inns of Court

1598, he was appointed secretary to Sir Thomas Edgerton, and his prospects for a court career looked very good

prospects came crashing down in 1601, when Donne secretly married Edgerton's niece, Ann More

marriage doomed any prospects he had for advancement at the royal court

For almost fourteen years, he and his family lived a life of relative poverty

King James told Donne that his only avenue of advancement would be through the Church of England

1615, Donne took orders as an Anglican priest and spent the rest of his life as a minister

first as Reader in Divinity at Lincoln's Inn, and then as Dean of Saint Paul's Cathedral

famous for his marvelous sermons

Though Donne's life had completely changed, his poetic forms (though not his subjects) remained much the same

Donne's poetry broke sharply from the smooth verse of the Elizabethans

His rhythms are rough, and his metaphors are strained, both in his early verse on love and his later religious verse

poetry
not especially popular with his contemporaries

soon after his death, Donne was forgotten, until T.S. Eliot revived his reputation in the early 20th century

Next time....

  • George Herbert, The Altar and Easter
  • Complete corresponding CPA

references

  • Harmon, W., & Holman, H. (2006) A handbook to literature. (10th ed.) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.
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