Q & A John Donne

John Donne

“Love built on beauty, soon as beauty, dies.”

John Donne

Quiz#1

True/False

John Donne

John Donne was born in Bread Street, London in 1572 to a prosperous Roman Catholic family. T F

John Donne’s father, John Donne, was a well-to-do ironmonger and citizen of London. T F

Donne's father died suddenly in 1576, and left the three children to be raised by their mother, Elizabeth. T F

Catherine, mother of Donne was the daughter of epigrammatist and playwright John Heywood and a relative of Sir Thomas More. T F

Donne's first teachers were Protestants. T F

At the age of 12, Donne and his younger brother Henry were entered at Hart Hall, University of Oxford where Donne studied for three years. T F

John Donne spent the next three years at the University of Cambridge, but took no degree at either university because he would not take the Oath of Supremacy required at graduation. T F

John Donne was admitted to study law as a member of Thavies Inn (1591) and Lincoln’s Inn (1592). T F

Donne embarked upon a legal or illegal career. T F

In 1593, Donne's brother Henry died of a fever in prison after being arrested for giving sanctuary to a proscribed Catholic priest. T F

Death of John Donne’s brother made him begin to question his Career. T F

His first book of poems, Satires, written during this period of residence in London, is considered one of Donne's most important literary efforts. T F
Same was the case with John Donne’s love poems, Songs and Sonnets, assumed to be written at about the same time as the Satires. T F

Having inherited a considerable fortune, young "Jack Donne" spent his money on Church, on books, at the theatre, and on travels. T F

John Donne had also befriended Christopher Brooke, a poet and his roommate at Oxford, and Ben Johnson who was part of Brooke's circle. T F

In 1596, Donne joined the naval expedition that Robert Devereux, 2^nd Earl of Essex, led against Cádiz, Spain. T F

In1598, Donne joined an expedition to the Azores. T F

In the Azores he wrote "The Tumult". T F

Upon his return to England in 1598, Donne was appointed private secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, afterward Lord Ellesmere. T F

In1604, Donne became MP for Brackley, and sat in Queen Elizabeth’s last Parliament. T F

But in the same year, John Donne secretly married Lady Egerton's niece, seventeen-year-old Anne More, daughter of Sir George More. T F

Sir Francis had Donne thrown in Fleet Prison for some weeks, along with his cohorts Samuel and Christopher Brooke who had aided the couple's clandestine affair. T F

Donne was dismissed by Sir George from his post, and for the next decade had to struggle near poverty to support his growing family. T F

Donne later summed up the experience:

"John Donne, Anne Donne, well done." T F

It was not until 1609 that reconciliation was effected between Donne and his father-in-law, and Sir George More was finally induced to pay his daughter's dowry. T F

Just as Donne's fortunes seemed to be improving, Anne Donne died, on 15 August, 1617, aged thirty-three, after giving birth to their twelfth child, a stillborn. T F

In1625, Donne's eldest daughter, Constance, married the actor Edward Alleyn, then 58. T F

In 1624, Donne was made vicar of St Dunstan's-in-the-West. T F

Donne died in London on March 31, 1634. T F

Quiz#2

1-What is the theme of ‘The Good-morrow” by Donne

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2-What is the theme of “Song: Go and catch a falling starre…”by John Donne

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3-What is the theme of “The Sun Rising” by John Donne

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5-What is the theme of “Lovers Infiniteness” by John Donne

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6-What is the theme of “Air and Angels” by John Donne

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7-What is the theme of “The Anniversarie” by John Donne

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8-What is the theme of “The Twickham Garden” by John Donne

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9-What is the theme of “A Valediction: forbidding Mourning” by John Donne

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10-What is the theme of “The Extassie” by John Donne

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11-What is the theme of “The Funerall” by John Donne

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Quiz#1

Answer Key

John Donne

True
True
True
False
False
False
True
True
False
True
False
True
True
False
False
True
False
False
True
False
True
False
True
False
True
True
False
True
False
True
True
False
True
True

Correct Answers

4- Elizabeth

5- Jesuits

6-11

9- diplomatic

11- faith

14- womanizing

15- Lincoln's Inn

17-1597

18- The Calm

20-1601

22- Sir George

24- Undone

27-1623

29-1631

Quiz#2

Answer Key

The central theme in The Good-morrow is the nature and completeness of the lovers' world. Donne takes the everyday idea that lovers live in a world of their own with little sense of reality, and turns it right round, so that it is the outside world that is unreal. The intensity of their love is sufficient to create its own reality. When they watch each other, it is not, as in the outside world, out of fear, but to complete themselves, as each one is half of the world needing the other half.

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Song: Go and catch a falling starre…

This is a poem by John Donne in which he argues that it is impossible to find a woman who is both attractive and faithful to the one man.

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The Sun Rising

In his poem, "The Sun Rising," Donne immerses the reader into his transmuted reality with an apostrophe to the "busy old fool, unruly sun" that "through curtains" calls upon him, seizing him from the bliss which "no season knows." This bliss, a passionate love, stimulates him to reinvent reality within the confines of his own mind, a wishful thinking from which he does not readily depart, much like a sleepy child clings to the consequences of a dream.

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Lovers Infiniteness

This closely reasoned poem deals with ‘Love’s riddles’, especially the riddle of whether we can ever love another person completely.

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“Air and Angels”

Love is represented as being something higher than human thought and comprehension. In “Air and Angels’ love is something that transcends the flesh and the human body is merely a vessel for this potent emotion. Love in this poem is not represented as a feeling that is strictly based on outside or shallow perceptions of beauty but rather, it is projected onto the object of the affection in a pure and spiritual sense.

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The Anniversarie

Most of us use anniversaries to celebrate. This poem, too, is a celebratory one, on the completion of the first year of a relationship.

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The Twickham Garden

Twicknam Garden could be seen not so much as a love poem as a complaint that the Countess of Bedford has not welcomed his efforts at securing her patronage.

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A Valediction: forbidding Mourning

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning by John Donne was written to express his feelings for his lover. The poem talks about the feelings of love being so intense that nothing will ever dull the bond between the two souls.

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The Extassie

The ecstasy of love is clearly the major theme of The Extasie. Donne looks at the outward manifestations of it and its inner meaning. In fact, the understanding he gains is that a revelation has come of what true love is, which is quite different from his perception before. There is a place for sex and the physical, but only as an expression of a union of souls.

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The Funerall

The poet's jilted lover is warned that her woven hair bracelet (a Renaissance tradition) will still be worn by the lover in his grave where, thereby, "I bury some of you" (24)--sweet

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