Donne, John

1. A seventeenth-century English poet and clergyman. Donne is famous for his intricate metaphors , as in a poem in which he compares two lovers to the two legs of a drawing compass. He also wrote learned and eloquent sermons and meditations. The expressions “ Death, be not proud ,” “ No man is an island ,” and “ for whom the bell tolls ” are drawn from Donne's works.