环球英语 — 277：John Donne
Voice 1
Hello. I’m Marina Santee.
Voice 2
And I’m Rachel Hobson. Welcome to Spotlight. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
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No man is an island.
Voice 1
This is one of the most famous sayings in the English language. It means that everything a person does affects other people. The saying comes from the writings of John Donne. He lived four hundred years ago. His poems and his method of writing greatly influenced many other writers and poets.
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In today’s Spotlight we tell John Donne’s story. We talk about his life and work. But first we talk about “metaphysical” poetry. In a previous Spotlight programme, ‘Hero Poets’, we told of the Nicaraguan metaphysical poet Alfonso Cortes. But what is “metaphysical poetry”?
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In metaphysical poetry, the poet mixes reason with emotion. Such poems often use powerful or sexual images. And they compare things are in no way connected. So, people are able to see something in a new way. For example the metaphysical poet George Herbert compared the love of God to a bottle.
Voice 3
I have not lost a single tear;
But when my eyes
cried to heaven, they found a bottle there...
Ready to take the tears in.*
Voice 2
Most English metaphysical poets lived in the sixteen hundreds [1600’s]. The greatest of them was John Donne. He was born in London during a period of violent religious conflict. The violence directly affected his family. And the young Donne questioned many things - life, God and the church.
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As a young man, he lived to satisfy himself. He lived a life of wine, women and song. Experts believe he wrote most of his love poems at this time. His love poems are often humourous. In the poem ‘The Triple Fool’ he wrote:
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I am two fools, I know, one for loving, and one for saying so…*
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John Donne decided to study law. He was very good at speaking and dealing with people. But he did not finish his studies. Instead he got a job working as an assistant to Sir Thomas Egerton. Sir Thomas was an important royal official. He greatly valued Donne’s work and opinions. Life was going well for Donne. In 1601, he was elected as a Member of Parliament.
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But during this same year, everything changed. Donne fell in love with a member of Sir Egerton’s family. Her name was Anne More. She was only seventeen. Donne was thirty. And he was in a lower social class than Anne. He knew that her family would not approve of him. So, Donne and Anne secretly married.
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Anne’s father was so angry that he had Donne thrown in prison. Donne was not there long. But after he got out, he had a hard time finding work. And Anne’s father cut them off financially. In those times in England a woman’s family gave money to the man marrying their daughter - a dowry. But Anne’s father refused to pay the dowry.
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Anne’s cousin and Donne’s friends helped them. But they lived in poverty for the next ten years. During this time, they had many children. In total they had twelve, five of whom died young. Donne became depressed. He blamed himself for making his wife’s life difficult.
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During that time, Donne started studying religion. He developed a deep love for God. He often expressed his feelings about God in his poems. His used strong images of physical love and violence to describe them. His poem Holy Sonnet Fourteen asks God to break him so that he may be a new person:
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...Overthrow me, and bend your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.*
Voice 1
Anne’s father finally made peace with Donne. And he paid the dowry. But the family still struggled financially. Donne earned some money by writing poems for wealthy supporters - poems of praise and funeral poems. He also earned money from other writing. He wrote about the law, religion and politics. Through his political writing, he earned the blessing of King James.
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King James decided Donne should become a priest in the Church of England. He said he would only help Donne find work within the church. At first Donne resisted. He believed his past was not holy enough. But his friends persuaded him to try.
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Becoming a priest was a good idea for Donne. In church he spoke in a similar way to his writing - he used symbols, powerful imagery, and his great knowledge of many subjects. He became the greatest Christian minister of his time. Copies of his speeches in church survive to this day.
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But with this success, came great sadness. His beloved wife died. She did not live to see him become the chief priest at one of the most famous churches in London - St. Paul’s Cathedral.
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Just two years after he started working at St. Paul’s, Donne became very sick. In those days when someone died, the church bells would sound or toll. They would ring three times for a man, two times for a woman. Then a pause, and a ring for every year of the person’s life. Donne was lying in bed, sick. He heard the bells tolling. At first he believed they were for him. Then he discovered they were for another man. And he wrote the famous lines:
Voice 3
No man is an island,
Complete in itself.
Each is a piece of the continent
A part of the main.
Each man’s death reduces me,
For I am involved in mankind.
So, never ask to know
For whom the bell tolls,
It tolls for you.*
Voice 1
Donne is saying that when one person dies, a little bit of everyone dies too. He also makes the point that the bells ring for every person at some time. Everyone meets death.
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John Donne died in London in 1631. In his last years, Donne wrote much more about death. His sickness made him think about it often. During this sickness his Christian faith had comforted him. Like all Christians, Donne believed that faith in Jesus Christ brings life after death - life with God. Donne wrote these famous lines, denying the power of death:
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Death be not proud, although some have called you
powerful and frightful, for you are not so.
For, those whom you think you overthrow
die not, poor death; neither yet can you kill me.*
Voice 1
The writer and producer of today’s programme was Rachel Hobson.
* All poems and writings were adapted for this programme.
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