Richard Burton reads the poetry of John Donne

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.