LIFE AND LITERATURE

  SONG                                     -JOHN DONNE INTRODUCTION John Donne  was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a cleric in the Church of England. John Donne ’s lifespan is between   1572-1631,  London , a   leading English poet of the  Metaphysical  school and dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, London (1621–31). Donne is often considered the greatest love poet in the  English language . He is also noted for his religious verse and  treatises  and for his sermons, which rank among the best of the 17th century. WOMEN’S TRAITS The poem Song: Go and Catch the Falling Star   the tone of   light and frivolous, ‘Go and catch a falling star’ seems to endorse the misogynistic belief that all women (or all  beautiful  women, anyway – just to make it worse) are unfaithful and shouldn’t be trusted. Yet the way Donne builds to this conclusion is beguiling.In summary, he advises the reader (or, as this is a song, the listener) t

  TRAGEDY INTRODUCTION:  Tragedy, branch of drama that treats in a serious and dignified style the sorrowful or terrible events encountered or caused by a heroic individual. By extension the term may be applied to other literary works, such as the novel. ORIGIN: Although the word tragedy is often used loosely to describe any sort of disaster or misfortune, it more precisely refers to a work of art that probes with high seriousness questions concerning the role of man in the universe. The Greeks of Attica, the ancient state whose chief city was Athens, first used the word in the 5th century BCE to describe a specific kind of play, which was presented at festivals in Greece. Sponsored by the local governments, these plays were attended by the entire community, a small admission fee being provided by the state for those who could not afford it themselves. The atmosphere surrounding the performances was more like that of a religious ceremony than entertainment. There were altars to the god