What prevents John Donne from taking a University degree? Is it an incompetence on his part or a matter of some constraint implicit in his birth? ( MEG 101 ) ( STUDY OF JOHN DONNE )

John Donne did not take a University degree due to a constraint implicit in his birth. He was born into a Roman Catholic family during a time when Catholics faced significant discrimination in England. As a result, he could not attend either Oxford or Cambridge, which were Anglican institutions, without first converting to the Church of England. Instead, he studied at the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford, but he did not receive a degree from either institution. Later, he studied law and was admitted to the bar, but he did not practice law for long and instead pursued a career in writing and poetry.