| Timeline |
| 1572 |
Born in Bread Street, London |
| 1576 |
Father dies suddenly |
| 1583 |
Enters at Hart Hall, University of Oxford - He studies there for three years |
| 1586 |
Spends three years at the University of Cambridge, takes no degree because he refuses to take the Oath of Supremacy |
| 1591 |
Admitted to study law as a member of Thavies Inn |
| 1593 |
Donne's brother Henry dies of a fever in prison, Donne begins to question his faith. |
| 1596 |
Joins the naval expedition that Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, led against Cádiz, Spain |
| 1598 |
Returns to England and appointed private secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal |
| 1601 |
Secretly marries Lady Egerton's niece, seventeen-year-old Anne More. Her father, Sir George More has Donne thrown to Fleet Prison for some weeks |
| 1607 |
Divine Poems published |
| 1610 |
Pseudo-Martyr and A Funerall Elegie published
|
| 1611 |
An Anatomy of the World and Ignatius his Conclave published |
| 1612 |
Of the Progress of the Soul published |
| 1614 |
Cambridge confers the degree of Doctor of Divinity on Donne |
| 1615 |
Donne reluctantly enters the ministry and is later appointed Royal Chaplain |
| 1616 |
Appointed Reader in Divinity at Lincoln's Inn |
| 1617 |
Anne Donne dies 15 August |
| 1618 |
Holy Sonnets published |
| 1618 |
Journeys as chaplain with Viscount Doncaster in his embassy to the German princes |
| 1620 |
Returns to London |
| 1621 |
Appointed Dean of Saint Paul's |
| 1624 |
Appointed vicar of St Dunstan's-in-the-West |
| 1631 |
Dies in London 31 March |
