John Donne and his works

John Donne was born in 1572. In 1576 his father would die leaving him and his younger siblings to be raised by their mother. When John was eleven he and his brother would enter the University of Oxford; there Donne would study for the next three years. He would then study at the University of Cambridge, bue would refuse to take the Oath of Supremacy required at graduation in order to receive a degree but he would study law. When Henry died John would start to question his faith. It was shortly after the death of Henry that John wrote the Satires. After inheriting a sizable fortune, John would spend his money on women, the theatre, books and on traveling. Donne would become friends with other young poets such as Christopher Brooke and Ben Jonson; he would join a naval expedition in 1596 led by Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex. In 1597, he would go on an expedition to the Azores, there he would write "The Calm". After returning to England in 1598, he was appointed as a private secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton. In 1601, Donne would secretly marry seventeen-year-old Anne Moore, this would signal the end of his career. Anne's father Sir George More would had Donne thrown in prison, along with his friends, for several weeks. Donne and Anne would live in poverty for the next several years; it would not be until 1609 that Sir George More would pay his daughter's dowry. During the years that the family was struggling Donne would write religious pamphlets, but he would still write poetry. King James would refuse to give Donne no post unless it was in a church. It would not be until 1615 that Donne would enter the ministry and be appointed a Royal Chaplain. In 1616, Donne would be appointed as Reader in the Divinity at Lincoln's Inn; two years earlier he had received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Cambridge. Donne would be known as one of the greatest preachers ever known due to his use of drama and religious symbolism. John Donne would die on March 31, 1631.

The Flea was a very interesting poem. As I was reading it I could not help but laugh, it is quite silly when you think about it. I wonder when Donne wrote this poem if he had not met a lady that he was interested in and thought that this would be a way to convince her to be promiscuous with him. He was thinking of someone when he wrote it because I certainly do not think he was thinking of a flea.

After reading The Flea, I would not have thought the same person would have written The Holy Sonnets. Donne had a very different inspiration concerning this poem. I wonder when Donne wrote The Holy Sonnets if he was not going through a very difficult period in his life. It is almost disturbing how the poem is written; it is almost violent in nature. The narrator asks God to break him in order to make him new; maybe when Donne wrote The Holy Sonnets he did it in order to feel closer to God.

http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/donnebio.htm

Geoffrey Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales

Geoffrey Chaucer was born in the year 1343 in London to vintner John Chaucer. In 1357 Chaucer was a page to Lady Elizabeth, wife of the Duke of Clarence, and in 1359 Chaucer was made a prisoner in France while he was serving in the military. However he was ransomed back to England in 1360. In 1366 Chaucer married Phillippa Roet, daughter to Sir Payne Roet, and lady in waiting to the queen. One of Chaucer's first literary works appeared in 1369, it was the Book of the Duchess, which told of the death of Blanche, wife of John of Gaunt. Chaucer held various jobs in his lifetime including: Comptroller of the Customs and Subsidy of Wool, Skins, and Leather, Comptroller of the Petty Customs, the Clerk of the King's works; also during this time he was writing. The Canterbury Tales were written between 1387 and 1400 they contain some 18,000 lines, but were never completed. Geoffrey Chaucer died on October 25, 1400; he is buried at Westminster Abbey.

My favorite story from The Canterbury Tales is the Pardoner's Tale. I found it absolutely amazing how a man could pretend to be a man of the cloth and sanctioned by the church was actually a con artist. I think why I found this story so compelling was the fact that he told the other people who were going on the pilgrimage how he got people to give him money. He told them that he had documents from the church stating that he was a Pardoner and he could forgive people of their sins and he would preach. He also told how he carried a bag of fake relics, and people would give him money for the privilege of seeing the relics. After he tells his tale he then has the nerve to ask if anyone would care to see his relics for a price. This led me to believe that the Pardoner was not very bright or he thought the people he was traveling with were not very intelligent; I feel it was the Pardoner. I would like to think that Chaucer included this tale as a way of making people realize that not everything they see can be believed.

http://www.britainexpress.com/History/bio.Chaucer.htm

Homer and The Iliad

Not much is actually known about the poet Homer; all that is known is that he lived in the 8th or 9th century B.C. and that he was believed to be blind and he was a story teller, other than that there is very little information available about him. There have been times when his actual existence has been debated. When you do think of Homer the first things that come to mind are the classics the Iliad and the Odyssey. Due to the different language styles scholars have often questioned whether Homer actually wrote the Odyssey, but many feel he did indeed write both of the Greek classics. The main reason for the language differences is more than likely Homer wrote them during periods of his life or so it is thought.

The Iliad is definitely one of the greatest works of literature ever written, but not the easiest to read. When reading the Iliad one of the first things you realize is that the gods and goddesses are almost playing a giant chess game with warriors as the pawns. I feel that if the gods would have stayed out of the war it might have ended much earlier. When I first read the poem I was more than disappointed in Achilles, but after the death of his friend Patroclus, at the the hands of Hector, Achilles starts to experience an internal change. He goes from acting like a spoiled child to the great warrior he was destined to be. One of the most important moments for Achilles comes when he gets revenge against Hector and he takes Hector's body. When Priam, Hector's father, comes to Achilles and asks that his son's body be returned to him in order to give him a decent burial; Achilles realizes that his own father will be suffering the same loss as Priam but he knows that his father will not be able to retrieve his body. Since he knows that he will not be able to lessen his father's suffering he realizes that he can lessen Priam's, so he returns Hector's body back to Priam.

http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/People/Homer

The Taming of The Shrew

Recently, I had the opportunity to watch The Taming of the Shrew. It was filmed in 1967 and starred Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and was directed by Frank Zefirelli. It was one of the funniest movies that I have watched in sometime and I encourage everyone if they get the chance to watch it. Usually, when one thinks of Shakespeare tragedy comes to mind, but not with this film it is definitely a comedy from start to finish. Richard Burton portrays Petruchio a poor man, who is looking for a rich wife, and Elizabeth Taylor portrays Katharina, a woman with a short temper and a wicked tongue, several times during the movie she is referred to as a shrew; I think of her as being spirited. I do not want to spoil the movie for anyone, but Petruchio takes a tough love approach when dealing with Katharina. One scene in particular has Katharina and Petruchio going to attend her sister Bianca's wedding, but before they can attend the wedding Petruchio has several dresses made for Katharina. Katharina loves the dresses but Petruchio pretends to hate them and destroys all of them. Katharina is heartbroken; there are several times during the movie that Katharina's spirit seems to be broken. Petruchio was not trying to destroy Katharina's spirit, but he was simply trying to get her to control her emotions instead of letting her emotions control her.

Shakespeare's Othello

I loved the story of Othello. When I first realized that I would have to read Shakespeare I was not entirely thrilled. Shakespeare was an incredible writer, but many times due to the style of language his plays were written in they can be hard to follow. I had heard of Othello, but had no idea what the story was about. Of course with it being a tragedy someone had to die; that was just Shakespeare's style. In the case of Othello, it was Othello and Desdemona who would die. Othello would listen to the lies his friend Iago would tell him; instead of listening to his wife. Othello kills Desdemona because he believes that she has been unfaithful, but in truth Desdemona is completely innocent. Othello then proceeds to kill himself after learning the truth about his wife's innocence. If Othello and Desdemona had simply confronted Iago things would have turned out differently. If they would have forced Iago to admit that he was lying the story could have had a happy ending. I think what Shakespeare was trying to say through his play is maybe we need to listen with our hearts and our instinct instead of listening to what someone else has to say.

Biography of William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, but the day of his birth is unknown due to the fact that public records of births were not recorded in Shakespeare's time. What is known is Shakespeare was baptized on April 26, 1564. Shakespeare would be known as "The Bard of Avon," and he would become one of the great literary genius's of all time. In 1582 Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway; the couple had three children. Even though Shakespeare was married his sexual orientation along with his religious beliefs would be called into question his entire life.

There would be a period of several years that Shakespeare did not write these years would be referred to as "the lost years" for it is not certain what Shakespeare did during this time. Shakespeare would not reappear until 1592 in London where he was working at the Globe Theater.

Many of Shakespeare's plays were written in "quarto texts"; meaning they were written on a single sheet of paper folded four ways. Some of Shakespeare's plays were printed during his lifetime, but most were printed after his death. After two years the First Folio was completed; it was nine hundred pages long. Shakespeare not only wrote plays he also wrote poetry; he wrote 154 sonnets.

On April 23, 1616 William Shakespeare died; he is buried in the chancel of the Holy Trinity Church in Stratford-upon-Avon.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/history_figures/shakespeare_william.shtml