John Donne

Timeline

1. 1601–1602London · EnglandIn 1601 Donne secretly married Anne More, daughter of Sir Thomas More, angering his father-in-law and leading to his imprisonment, loss of his court post, and loss of his father-in-law's support. After his release he turned to earning a living through poetry and legal work, composing metaphysical love poems such as The Flea and The Sun Rising, establishing his literary reputation with conceits and speculative style.
2. 1602–1607London · EnglandIn 1602 Donne was elected MP for Brackley, taking part in the political life of the late Elizabethan era. During this period he continued writing love poems and satires, his family burdens grew heavier, and the pain of children dying young seeped into his later religious poetry, foreshadowing his turn to the clergy after 1610.
3. 1610London · EnglandIn 1610 Donne published the prose treatise Pseudo-Martyr, arguing that Catholics could obey James I provided political loyalty was maintained, responding to contemporary disputes over religious allegiance. The book won royal favor and became an important stepping stone to his taking holy orders in 1615 and eventually becoming Dean of St Paul's Cathedral.