The 100 Most Influential Writers of All Time (13 page)

(b. sometime between Jan. 24 and June 19, 1572, London, Eng.—d. March 31, 1631, London)

J
ohn Donne, the leading English poet of the Metaphysical school and dean of St. Paul's Cathedral, London (1621–31), is often considered the greatest love poet in the English language. He is also noted for his religious verse and treatises and for his sermons, which rank among the best of the 17th century.

At age 12 Donne matriculated at the University of Oxford, where he studied for three years, and he then most likely continued his education at the University of Cambridge, though he took no degree from either university because as a Roman Catholic he could not swear the required oath of allegiance to the Protestant queen, Elizabeth. Following his studies Donne probably traveled in Spain and Italy and then returned to London to read law, first at Thavies
Inn (1591) and then at Lincoln's Inn (1592–94). In 1596 he took part in expeditions led by the Earl of Essex and Sir Walter Raleigh.

After his return to London in 1597, Donne became secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton, lord keeper of the great seal, in whose employ Donne remained for almost five years. The appointment itself makes it probable that Donne had become an Anglican by this time. Donne met and fell in love with Anne More, niece of Egerton's second wife and the daughter of Sir George More, who was chancellor of the garter. The two married secretly, probably in December 1601. Because of the marriage, all possibilities of a career in public service were dashed, and Donne found himself at age 30 with neither prospects for employment nor adequate funds with which to support his household. During the next 10 years Donne lived in poverty and humiliating dependence, yet he wrote and studied assiduously, producing prose works on theology and canon law and composing love lyrics, religious poetry, and complimentary and funerary verse for his patrons. In 1612 a newfound patron, Sir Robert Drury, provided the Donnes with a house in London.

In 1614 Donne had come to believe he had a religious vocation, and he finally agreed to take holy orders. He was made a royal chaplain and received, at the king's command, the degree of doctor of divinity from Cambridge. Two years after his ordination, in 1617, Anne Donne died after giving birth to a stillborn child. Grief-stricken, Donne vowed never to marry again. His bereavement turned him fully to his vocation as an Anglican divine. In 1621 he was installed as dean of St. Paul's Cathedral. The power and eloquence of Donne's sermons soon secured for him a reputation as the foremost preacher in the England of his day, and he became a favourite of both King James I and King Charles I.

Because almost none of Donne's poetry was published during his lifetime, it is difficult to date it accurately. Most of his poems were preserved in manuscript copies made by and passed among a relatively small but admiring coterie of poetry lovers. Donne's
Anniversaries
were published in 1611–12 and were the only important poetic works by him published in his lifetime.

Donne's poetry is marked by strikingly original departures from the conventions of 16th-century English verse, particularly that of Sir Philip Sidney and Edmund Spenser. Even his early satires and elegies, which derive from classical Latin models, contain versions of his experiments with genre, form, and imagery. His poems contain few descriptive passages like those in Spenser, nor do his lines follow the smooth metrics and euphonious sounds of his predecessors. Donne replaced their mellifluous lines with a speaking voice whose vocabulary and syntax reflect the emotional intensity of a confrontation. One consequence of this is a directness of language that electrifies his mature poetry. “For Godsake hold your tongue, and let me love,” begins his love poem “The Canonization,” plunging the reader into the midst of an encounter between the speaker and an unidentified listener.

From these explosive beginnings, the poems develop as closely reasoned arguments or propositions that rely heavily on the use of the conceit—i.e., an extended metaphor that draws an ingenious parallel between apparently dissimilar situations or objects. Donne, however, transformed the conceit into a vehicle for transmitting multiple, sometimes even contradictory, feelings and ideas. And, changing again the practice of earlier poets, he drew his imagery from such diverse fields as alchemy, astronomy, medicine, politics, global exploration, and philosophical
disputation. These conceits offer brilliant and multiple insights into the subject of the metaphor and help give rise to the much-praised ambiguity of Donne's lyrics.

Donne's earliest prose works, including
Paradoxes and Problems
, probably were begun during his days as a student at Lincoln's Inn. In 1611 Donne completed his
Essays in Divinity
, the first of his theological works. Upon recovering from a life-threatening illness, Donne in 1623 wrote
Devotions upon Emergent Occasions
, the most enduring of his prose works. Each of its 23 devotions consists of a meditation, an expostulation, and a prayer, all occasioned by some event in Donne's illness, such as the arrival of the king's personal physician or the application of pigeons to draw vapours from Donne's head. The
Devotions
correlate Donne's physical decline with spiritual sickness, until both reach a climax when Donne hears the tolling of a passing bell and questions whether the bell is ringing for him. Like Donne's poetry, the
Devotions
are notable for their dramatic immediacy and their numerous Metaphysical conceits, such as the well-known “No man is an
Iland
,” by which Donne illustrates the unity of all Christians in the mystical body of Christ.

It is Donne's sermons, however, that most powerfully illustrate his mastery of prose. One-hundred and fifty-six of them were published by his son in three great folio editions (1640, 1649, and 1661). Though composed during a time of religious controversy, Donne's sermons—intellectual, witty, and deeply moving—explore the basic tenets of Christianity rather than engage in theological disputes. The power of his sermons derives from their dramatic intensity, candid personal revelations, poetic rhythms, and striking conceits.

(b. Dec. 9, 1608, London, Eng.—d. Nov. 8?, 1674, London?)

J
ohn Milton, an English poet and pamphleteer, is considered the most significant English author after William Shakespeare. Milton is best known for
Paradise Lost
, widely regarded as the greatest epic poem in English. Together with
Paradise Regained
and
Samson Agonistes
, it confirms Milton's reputation as one of the greatest English poets.

Milton enrolled at Christ's College, Cambridge, in 1625. A year later he was “rusticated,” or temporarily expelled, for a period of time because of a conflict with one of his tutors. He was later reinstated. In 1629 Milton was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree, and in 1632 he received a Master of Arts degree. Despite his initial intent to enter the ministry, Milton did not do so, a situation that has not been fully explained. While at Cambridge he wrote poems in Latin, Italian, and English. Among the most important of these are the companion poems
L'Allegro
and
Il Penseroso
, both published later in
Poems
(1645); Milton's first published poem in English,
On Shakespeare
, composed in 1630 and published anonymously in the Second Folio (1632) of Shakespeare's plays; and
On the Morning of Christ's Nativity
. In 1632–39 he engaged in private study—writing the masque
Comus
(first performed 1634) and the elegy
Lycidas
(1638)—and toured Europe, spending most of his time in Italy. The Florentine academies especially appealed to Milton, and he befriended young members of the Italian literati, whose similar humanistic interests he found gratifying. Invigorated by their admiration for him, he corresponded with his Italian friends after his return to England. While in Florence, Milton also met with Galileo, who was under virtual house arrest.

Having returned from abroad in 1639, Milton turned his attention from poetry to prose. In doing so, he entered
the controversies surrounding the abolition of the Church of England and of the Royalist government, at times replying to, and often attacking vehemently, English and Continental polemicists who targeted him as the apologist of radical religious and political dissent. His best-known prose is in the pamphlets
Areopagitica
(1644), on freedom of the press, and
Of Education
(1644). He mounted a cogent, radical argument, informed by the concepts of personal liberty and individual volition, for divorce in four tracts published 1643–45. He also wrote tracts against the Church of England and against the monarchy. Among the antimonarchical polemics of 1649–55 is
The Tenure of Kings and Magistrates
(1649), composed after Milton had become allied to those who sought to form an English republic but probably written before and during the trial of King Charles I though not published until after his death on Jan. 30, 1649; it urges the abolition of tyrannical kingship and the execution of tyrants. Thereafter, Milton was appointed secretary for foreign tongues (also called Latin secretary) for the Council of State, the executive body of the Commonwealth under Oliver Cromwell. Milton was entrusted with the duties of translating foreign correspondence, drafting replies, composing papers in which national and international affairs of state were addressed, and serving as an apologist for the Commonwealth against attacks from abroad.

He lost his sight about 1651 and thereafter dictated his works. After the Restoration he was arrested as a prominent defender of the Commonwealth but was soon released. His focus returned to poetry. Abandoning an earlier plan to compose an epic on the legendary British king Arthur, Milton instead turned to biblical subject matter and to a Christian idea of heroism.
Paradise Lost
, considered the greatest epic poem in English, was the result. It was first published in 10 books in 1667 and then in 12 books
in 1674, at a length of almost 11,000 lines. It uses blank verse and reworks Classical epic conventions to recount the Fall of Man.
Paradise Lost
is ultimately not only about the downfall of Adam and Eve but also about the clash between Satan and the Son. Many readers have admired Satan's splendid recklessness, if not heroism, in confronting the Godhead. Satan's defiance, anger, willfulness, and resourcefulness define a character who strives never to yield.
Paradise Regained
(1671) is a shorter epic in which Christ overcomes Satan the tempter. It unfolds as a series of debates—an ongoing dialectic—in which Jesus analyzes and refutes Satan's arguments. Though
Paradise Regained
lacks the vast scope of
Paradise Lost
, it fulfills its purpose admirably by pursuing the idea of Christian heroism as a state of mind. More so than
Paradise Lost
, it dramatizes the inner workings of the mind of Jesus, his perception, and the interplay of faith and reason in his debates with Satan. Milton's third great long poem,
Samson Agonistes
(1671), is a dramatic poem in which the Old Testament figure conquers self-pity and despair to become God's champion.

Among prose works published late in Milton's life or after his death are
History of Britain
, which was incomplete when published in 1670, and an unfinished work on theology, which was discovered in 1832. The exact date and location of Milton's death remain unknown; he likely died from complications of the gout (possibly renal failure). He was buried inside St. Giles Cripplegate Church in London.

(baptized Dec. 22, 1639, La Ferté-Milon, France—d. April 21, 1699, Paris)

J
ean Racine was a dramatic poet and historiographer renowned for his mastery of French classical tragedy. He was not only a contemporary of Molière, the father of
modern French comedy, but his career intersected with that of the man who rivalled him for the title of the greatest of all French playwrights.

Orphaned at an early age, Racine was educated in a Jansenist convent, and he chose drama in defiance of his upbringing. His first play,
Amasie
, was never produced and has not survived. His career as a dramatist began with the production by Molière's troupe of his play
La Thébaïde ou les frères ennemis
(“The Thebaide or the Enemy Brothers”) at the Palais-Royal Theatre in 1664. Molière's troupe also produced Racine's next play,
Alexandre le grand
(
Alexander the Great
), which premiered at the Palais Royal in 1665. This play was so well received that Racine secretly negotiated with the Hôtel de Bourgogne, a rival troupe, to present a “second premiere” of
Alexandre
. The break with Molière was irrevocable; Racine even seduced Molière's leading actress, Thérèse du Parc, into joining him personally and professionally.