Life Sketch of John Donne
Author:
John Donne
Anti-Catholicism in England
John Donne was born to a wealthy Catholic family on June 19, 1572, at the time in world history when anti-Catholicism was gaining influence in England. John's father, John Donne, Sr., was a well-to-do ironworker. His mother was a relative of Sir Thomas More, and her father was John Heywood, the playwright. The future poet was only four years old when his father died in 1576, and his mother struggled to raise John and his two siblings by herself.
John
and his younger brother, Henry, began school at Hart Hall at Oxford University. John was eleven years old at the time. John continued his studies at Hart Hall for the next three years, after which he enrolled at Cambridge University. John refused to vow to a supremacy oath declaring King Henry VIII the head of the church because such vows were considered blasphemous to devout Catholics. John was, therefore, not allowed to graduated because of that refusal. Later, John began studying law as a member of Thavies and Lincoln’s Inn. Jesuit influence continued to play a part in John’s worldview through his days as a student.