Publisher Description
John Donne was a prolific English poet and preacher. His works are notable for their realistic and sensual style and spans many genres including sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, elegies, satires, and sermons.
Donne's poetry is noted for its vibrancy of language and vivacious, compelling style. He wrote most of his love lyrics and erotic verse in 1590s, yet one reason for its continuing appeal is that it speaks to us as directly and urgently. Some consider Donne to be the greatest love poet in the English Language. The Love Poetry of John Donne presents some of these enduring masterpieces.
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About John Donne
John Donne (1572-1631) was an English poet, satirist,
philosopher, and chaplain who is considered a founder of the Metaphysical Poets,
a group of writers characterized by their ability to coax new perspective
through paradoxical images, inventive syntax, and imagery from art, philosophy,
and religion using an extended metaphor known as a conceit. Donne’s works are
notable for their realistic and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry,
religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, satires, and
sermons. He is firmly established as one of the greatest poets in the English
language, strongly influencing writers of the seventeenth century. He died in
1631 and was buried at St. Paul’s Cathedral.
About Richard Burton
Richard
Burton (1925–1984), born in Wales, was a renowned, award-winning actor of stage
and screen. He was one of the great British actors of the post-WWII period and
at one time the highest-paid actor in Hollywood. He won a BAFTA, two Golden
Globe Awards, and two Tony Awards for Best Actor. He was nominated seven times
for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role, but without
ever winning. His awards include a 1975 Grammy Award for Best Children’s
Recording, for The Little Prince. He
also narrated Jeff Wayne’s musical version of The War of the Worlds, his performance becoming a necessary part of
the concept album. Widely admired for his command and understanding of English
poetry, he insisted that his way out of an impoverished Welsh childhood was due
not to acting but to books; he read one a day and was an avid fan of
Shakespeare. Although he is widely known for his Tony Award-winning role playing
King Arthur in the original production of Lerner and Loewe’s Broadway musical Camelot, he also won a reputation as the
best Hamlet of his generation.