John Donne

An English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant Roman Catholic family in London, who became a cleric in the Church of England and eventually Dean of St Paul's Cathedral (1621-1631). He is considered the preeminent representative of the Metaphysical poets, revolutionizing English verse with dramatic speech rhythms and complex metaphorical conceits, most famously in the Holy Sonnets and Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (source of the line "No man is an Iland"). His secret 1601 marriage to Anne More ended his early diplomatic career and left him in poverty for years before his ordination in 1615.