The Purpose of This Paper Is to Examine, the Religious Imagery Found in John Donne’s Poem an Anatomy of the World: the First Anniversary and How It Reflects the Religious Ideology During the Time of the Poem Was Written.

The purpose of this paper is to examine, the religious imagery found in John Donne’s poem An Anatomy of the World: the First Anniversary and how it reflects the religious ideology during the time of the poem was written. There are four topics that will be presented, the first topic is the idea of heaven, and John Donne writes the first sentence with heaven in it. In the poem, Donne writes that it would have been better for the sun to die then for Elizabeth Drury. This could possibly be comparing Elizabeth to the atonement of Christ. Meaning, if it wasn’t for Christ we would be in darkness and without salvation. With out Elizabeth in this world, it would be better for the sun to be gone because without the sun we are lost and cannot survive. The third topic will is the idea of life after death. Donne points out that Elizabeth’s ghost doth walk. The final topic is the idea of original sin, that is written in An anatomy of the world. A Brief history of John Donne life reveals a mixture of religious backgrounds that have a reflection of where his own religious ideas were created. John Donne was born born in Jan. 24, 1572 and died in London, England March 31, 1631, London. John Donne is know for being from the metaphysical school of poetry, Other authors who are from this period are know for writing use scientific ideas of the time and include them into there poetry. John Donne was raised into the Catholic Church and unfortunately during that time in England, if you were catholic you could be sent to prison. John Donne would eventually study law at a university. John Donne would later be torn between two religions Catholicism and Protestantism this struggle is seen in his poetry as well as in An anatomy of the world. Donne converted to Anglicanism and ordained in 1615, he became a very powerful preacher. A example of religious ideology, during the seventeenth century is found in John Donne’s poems: “A Hymn to God my God, in my Sickness” and “Holy Sonnet number 10”