John Donne was born in London in 1572, probably in January, though the exact day remains uncertain, and he died in London on 31 March 1631. Few English writers have seemed so divided within themselves, or have turned division into such memorable art. He was at once a Catholic child in a Protestant state, an ambitious courtier whose prospects were ruined by love, a husband burdened by debt and bereavement, a poet of e…
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.”
Neighbourhood:
Death & Mortality, Devotional Poets, Love Poets, Metaphysical Poets
Emotional landscape: Longing, Sorrow, Despair
In the twilight of the Elizabethan age, as the Renaissance bloomed in England with a brilliance rivaling that of Florence or Venice, a quiet, introspective composer emerged from the Suffolk countryside to leave an indelible mark on the history of English music. John Wilbye, born in 1574 and passing in 1638, was not a flamboyant courtier, nor a prolific pamphleteer, nor even a widely traveled virtuoso. He was, rather,…
Neighbourhood:
Lute-Song Composers, Renaissance Poets
Emotional landscape: Sorrow, Despair, Longing
