10 Jan John Donne

John Donne – born in London in 1572 – is remembered as a trail-blazing poet, but in his lifetime he was most famous for his sermons and for being the Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral in London. Today he’s regarded as the most significant metaphysical poet of the English Renaissance. Donne’s marriage in 1601 was the stimulus for his ever-popular love poems. His highly personal Devotions upon Emergent Occasions was published in 1624. The 17^th devotion includes the familiar quotes “No man is an island” and “… never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee”.

During the early years of the 17^th Century, Donne apparently converted to Protestantism. He was ordained in the Church of England in 1615, became royal chaplain to James I and in 1621 Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral. He died in London in 1631 and was buried in the old St Paul’s. A white marble statue was installed shortly afterwards. It was the cathedral’s only memorial to survive the Great Fire of 1666 and can be viewed in the present St Paul’s (built 1675-1710).