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John Donne is buried in St Paul's Cathedral, London, England. Also buried
here is Sir Philip Sidney.
A statue was built in his memory by Nicholas Stone based upon a
drawing commissioned by Donne himself as he lay dying. It was one of the few to
survive the Great Fire of London (1666). However, faint traces of scorching can be
seen on the urn beneath.
In 1601 Donne secretly married Ann More, the neice of Lady Egerton,
and as a result lost his position as private secretary to Sir Thomas
Egerton. He also lost his seat as MP for Brackley and was briefly
imprisoned.
For the next 14 years Donne struggled to find a public role for
himself. However, in 1615 he entered the church and in 1621 he was made Dean of St. Paul's by King James, but ill health forced him to leave this post in 1623. One year later
he recovered sufficiently to became the vicar of St.Dunstan's-in-the-West, Fleet
Street.
Donne Monument
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He
preached his last sermon - Death's Duel - on the 1st Friday of Lent 1631 in
the presence of King Charles I and died on 31st March.
His famous lines: 'No man is an island' and 'never send to know for
whom the bell tolls' are not actually taken from his poems but from his
sermons which were edited by his son John. (Hemingway used For Whom
the Bell Tolls as the title for his Spanish Civil War novel.)
Donne's poetic output includes elegies, satires and many tender love
poems.
See also aubade and
metaphysical poets.
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| All other things, to their
destruction draw, |
| Only our love
hath no decay; |
| This no tomorrow hath,
nor yesterday, |
| Running it never runs from
us away, |
| But truly keeps his first,
last, everlasting day. |
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The Anniversary
(complete poem)
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