Who was Elizabeth Drury, the subject of John Donne’s Anniversaries?

Elizabeth Drury was the 14-year-old daughter of Sir Robert Drury, who served as a patron to the poet John Donne.1

Following her death, Donne composed the Anniversaries (1611–1612) to commemorate her. In these works, Donne elevated Elizabeth beyond her role as the subject of a funeral tribute, characterizing her as the "Idea of a woman" and a lost pattern of virtue. Through this idealized figure, he explored broader philosophical meditations on the decay of the world and humanity's spiritual state.1