A highly enjoyable, witty biography of the great metaphysical poet, John Donne John Donne (1572-1631) was many things in his time: a soldier (although not a particularly effective one), a parliamentary MP (he was parachuted into the role) and a cleric, achieving considerable fame under James I as the Dean of St Paul's Cathedral. He worked hard to curry favour with the royal court, efforts that paid off, although an ill chosen word in a sermon could bring on the king's wrath. Today we remember Donne for his poetry. Everyone knows the phrase, “No man is an island”. Beyond that, he also contributed hundreds of new words to the English language, many which we use today. Donne spent a large part of his life trying to keep out of trouble. He was Catholic (later giving up his religion) at a time when Queen Elizabeth's spies were at work, capturing and torturing anyone suspected of plotting against the protestant queen. Donne's brother, Henry, would be thrown in jail for trying to hide a catholic, where he would die. Donne married Anne More, without her father's permission. An act of deceit that found him temporarily thrown into prison, a terrifying circumstance considering disease was rife. The marriage was a happy one, although perhaps not as happy for Anne. She bore him 12 children, many of them dying either still born or in childhood. Her last pregnancy literally killed her. She was only thirty-three years old. Money was often tight with so many children, but Donne would eventually come into money as a cleric for the Church of England. While Super-Infinite is a biography of Donne, children's author Katherine Rundell also provides an appreciation of Donne's poetry. Rundell admits that Donne can be difficult, even baffling. “The pleasure of reading a Donne poem is akin to that of cracking a locked safe, and he meant it to be so...The poetry stands to ask: why should everything be easy, rhythmical, pleasant?” Rundell's analysis shows a poet and prose writer whose work crackles and pops with ideas, paradoxes and conundrums. He truly wrestled with life's great questions and mysteries, his dynamic mind never tiring for a minute. Donne marveled at our “super infinite” selves, the limitless bounds of human consciousness. He thought each human's inner life vaster, more overflowing, than the very globe we stood upon. Donne's intellectual and psychic energy propelled him like a rocket, his pen producing great satires, sermons and love poetry. Katherine Rundell has written a biography that is delightfully light in tone but deep in its study. We come away from this portrait of Donne pleasantly discombobulated but also invigorated. Super-Infinite: The Transformations of John Donne, by Katherine Rundell. Published by Faber. $34.99 Review by Chris Saliba Comments are closed.
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