John Donne Life Stages Through Facts and His Poems
John Donne was a poet of XVI century. As a poet, he often wrote about love, influence by the stages of his life. He is often referred to as the chief of Metaphysical poetry, a specific type of writing. John’s life was tormented, and this can be felt within his writing. His life as a poet can be divided into three defined stages. Those stages represent the change of personality and his mind growth, and his growth as an individual and as a lover. The first stage, characterized him as a wild child, even tough he was already a young man.
In this early stage he was regarded as a player, not having any set relationships especially with woman, he was playing around and enjoying his youth not believing in true love. Donne was described as fun and loving. This first stage of his life as a poet, may be represented by the poem Go catch a falling star, in this poem John donne clearly state that he as no faith in woman and support his belief by unusual metaphor and similes, in which for example he compares unfaithful women’s to falling stars, or child’s with mandrake root.
In this text he clearly shows not only his loss in the faith of women’s but also how he gave up on the search to find his faithful love. “If Thou Findus one, let me know“ line 19 This line shows how Donne Is done searching for a faithful woman and how he now just waits for others to find one. The theme of Go catch a falling star illustrates John view and belief, justified by his actions and comportment during this first stage of his life. The second stage of John Donne life is characterized by a sudden settlement.
John found reason to stop playing with women’s and settle in a calmer lifestyle. He slowly stabilized, into a usual routine. In this stage of his life John Donne married Anne Donne. In this brief passage John started suffering due to love, and mainly theme his poem about Love and pain. This chapter in his life can be sensed in the poem A Valediction: Of Weeping. In this poem, he tries to convince his sick and pregnant wife to not be sad even though he was leaving to Europe for a while. Here, John love for his wife, the faith he had I her, and how much he cares for her is portrayed.
Again this poem is about Love a general characteristic of metaphysical poetry. The third stage of John Donne life is marked by the death of his wife. He was field grief. This passage of his life can be described as dark, cold, and depressing. As he was field with pain John found redemption and relief in writing. He was left alone with his seven sons and daughters, this was a time of loneliness, but also wisdom. His first writing after the death of his wife, was the XVII Holy Sonnet. In this Sonnet John, is again writing about love.
However here Love is mixed with faith and religion. We can definitely see a significant growth of his belief and opinions. He saw the death of his wife as a knock over. God as knocked him over, by taking his wife away. He questions why he as helped him find her in order to finally take her away. Significant changes in John’s life and belief can be observed through his poem. Due to his themes and ways of writing have made possible to define three different passage in his life. Those stages, have been sculpted by the environment and the people he meet.
