John Donne
Page 41
quintessence: The purest or most perfect form of some quality; the pure essence of heavenly bodies, supposedly latent in all things, whose extraction was the great aim of alchemy since it was reputed to cure all ills.
21. limbeck: An alembic or distiller used in alchemy.
29. the first nothing: The nothingness out of which God created the world.
32–4. If I were … invest: Even animals, plants and stones are composed of something and can experience life (as Donne’s sermons explain).
37. my sun: My beloved.
renew: Return.
38. lesser sun: The natural sun.
39–40. At this time … lust: Capricorn, the zodiacal sign of the goat, began at the same time as the winter solstice in the old calendar. Goats were considered lustful.
44. vigil: The night of prayer before a Church feast or the vigil beside a departed body.
Witchcraft by a Picture
6. By pictures … to kill: It was believed that witches could kill by creating a picture of someone and then destroying it.
14. Being … from all malice free: Because the picture is in your heart, you cannot destroy it without killing yourself.
The Bait
This is one of many responses to Christopher Marlowe’s enormously popular song, ‘The Passionate Shepherd to his Love’, which was printed in The Passionate Pilgrim (1599) and England’s Helicon (1600).
17. reeds: Rods made from reeds.
23. sleave-silk flies: Fishing lures made of silk.
Text notes: title The Bait 1635] untitled 1633; 18 with 1635] which 1633; 23 sleave-silk 1635] sleavesicke 1633
The Apparition
5. vestal: A virgin serving the Roman goddess Vesta.
worse arms: Arms of another, less worthy, man.
11. aspen: Quivering.
12. quicksilver: Mercury; a quicksilver sweat bath was a common treatment for syphilis.
Text note: 12 in a ms] in in a 1633
The Broken Heart
13. Love: Cupid, the Roman god of love.
15. chained shot: Cannon balls chained together.
ranks: Battalions.
16. fry: Small fish consumed by larger ones.
25. nothing can to nothing fall: Matter can never be completely annihilated.
26. Nor any place be empty quite: A complete vacuum cannot exist.
29. glasses: Mirrors.
A Valediction Forbidding Mourning
5. melt: Dissolve by parting, but perhaps also by having intercourse.
7. profanation: Desecration.
8. laity: Laymen, those who are uninitiated in the mysteries of our clandestine love affair.
9. Moving of th’earth: Earthquakes, seen as ominous portents of worldly disaster.
11–12. trepidation of the spheres … innocent: According to medieval astronomy, movement of the celestial spheres had no ill effects on earth.
13. sublunary: Beneath the moon and subject to its changes; earthly, mundane.
14. sense: Reliant on sensuality.
19. Inter-assurèd: Equally certain of the other’s regard and fidelity.
24. gold: The chemical symbol for gold was a circle inscribed around a point, the same mark made by the compass in ll. 26–36.
26. twin compasses: The two legs of a compass used to draw a circle, the symbol of perfection.
32. erect: The sexual connotation alludes to the recent rediscovery of the clitoris.
34. obliquely: Not in a straight line.
Text note: 20 and ms] omitted 1633
The Ecstasy
title Ecstasy: Rapture, transport; intense or rapturous delight; standing outside or beside oneself.
6. fast: Firmly or closely knit together.
balm: Oil or resin; figuratively, sweat.
7. eye-beams twisted: Eyes were thought to send out invisible beams that carried an image back to the viewer; the entanglement of these beams unites the lovers.
9. to’intergraft: To unite; to breed a plant species by inserting a shoot into another root or stem.
27. concoction: Purification by heat to refine metals.
32. We see … move: We see the source of our love that we did not see before.
33. several: Separate.
42. Interanimates: Gives joint life to; animates, also in the sense of instilling anima, ‘soul’.
47. th’atomies: The atoms.
51–2. we are… the spheres: Angels were thought to control the movements of the heavenly spheres as the lovers’ souls animate their bodies.
56. dross: Impurity discarded in refining metals.
allay: Alloy.
57–8. On man … the air: Stars were thought to control man indirectly by manipulating the air.
60. repair: Return.
62. Spirits: Vapours or ethereal liquids within the blood that governed the body according to the soul.
66. faculties: The various powers of the mind – will, reason, memory, etc.; physical capabilities or functions; financial resources, possessions or property.
Text note: 51 though they’re not ms] though not 1633
Love’s Deity
3. loved most: Loved most intensely; loved most women.
6. vice-nature, custom: Custom or social convention, which acts as the deputy or representative of nature.
12. Actives to passives: Men traditionally took the active role in courtship, women the passive role.
Correspondency: Agreement, compliance; communication, intercourse.
18. purlieu: Domain subject to divine or royal authority.
25. love me too: Love me back; love me in addition to someone else.
26. loves before: Already loves me though she does not admit it; already has another lover.
27–8. and that … love me: That would make me a liar since she already loves me, and I said she does not; that would make her a liar since she loves me although she says she does not; that would make her false to her former lover.
Love’s Diet
6. discretion: Discrimination; liberty or power of deciding and acting according to one’s own judgement.
8. fortune: Bad luck; position or standing in life; position as determined by wealth.
faults: Deficiencies, imperfections or misdeeds.
had part: Also received some sighs.
13. brined: Salted with tears, preserved.
17. meat: Food; here, her sighs.
22. title: Appellation of power.
24. the fortieth name in an entail: Fortieth in line of succession to inherit an estate; here, the fortieth suitor.
25. redeemed: Liberated from captivity.
buzzard: Senseless, stupid, blind.
28. use: Do.
29. spring: Cause to appear or to rise to view, as a falconer releases a bird for the falcon to hunt.
Text note: 21 that that 1633] if that ms
The Will
3. Argus: Mythological monster with a hundred eyes.
4. Love … thee: Cupid, the god of love, is often represented as blind.
5. Fame: Rumour.
12. ingenuity: Openness, candour; high intellectual capacity.
13. Jesuits: Roman Catholic priests, known for their intellectual rigour, forced by English law to practise their religion furtively.
15. Capuchin: A Franciscan monk who took a vow of poverty.
19–27. Omitted in most manuscripts.
19. Roman Catholics: Religious dissidents whose allegiance to Rome and whose belief that good works contributed to salvation kept them from accepting the Church of England as required by law.
20. schismatics: Calvinists, many of whom lived in Amsterdam, who believed in salvation through faith alone, and who broke from the Church of England because it placed too much emphasis on church ceremony.
22. courtship: The art of courtiership, valuable at court but inappropriate at a university.
23. bare: Naked, a particularly immodest state in early modern England, where nakedness, even in the most intimate c
ircumstances, was extremely rare.
26. disparity: Inequality, dissimilarity.
30. schoolmen: Medieval scholastic philosophers.
31. excess: Overindulgence, considered a cause of illness.
38. physic books: Medical books.
39. Bedlam: An insane asylum in London; synonymous with madness.
40. brazen medals: Antique coins that could not be spent.
44. portion: The part of an estate given to an heir; marriage portion or dowry.
45. disproportion: Render out of due proportion.
The Funeral
9. sinewy thread: Nervous system.
14. except: Unless.
17. by me: Next to me.
Text note: 3 crowns Grierson] crown 1633
The Blossom
12. forbidden or forbidding: Forbidden because his courtship is prohibited, presumably by her family, and forbidding because his beloved is currently rejecting his advances.
15. that sun: The woman.
20. business: A particular matter demanding attention; duty, occupation as opposed to pleasure.
22. content: Gratification.
Text notes: 23 tongue ms] taste 1633; 24 you a ms] your 1633
The Primrose
3. several: Separate.
8. true love: Lover; another name for the primrose.
12. a six or four: Primroses usually possess five petals; six or four petals were a favourable sign for lovers.
17. not to love: Not to make love.
25. Ten is the farthest number: Ten, the perfect number of Pythagorean theory, is the highest number, since all subsequent numbers contain the numbers preceding ten.
28. turn: A common circumlocution for intercourse.
29–30. Numbers … us all: Odd and even numbers, represented by three and two, are both contained within the number five; the speaker argues either that women are entitled to the whole of man or that women are entitled to all men.
The Relic
2. Some second guest to entertain: Digging up graves for multiple burials was a common practice.
3. woman-head: Womanhood, possible pun on ‘maidenhead’ – virginity.
6. bracelet of bright hair about the bone: Lock of shiny hair, worn as a bracelet on an arm that is nothing but bone.
10. the last busy day: Judgement Day, when souls will be reunited with resurrected bodies.
16. relics: Bones of saints, cherished as objects of devotion by Roman Catholics but attacked as fraudulent by Protestant reformers.
17. Mary Magdalen: Follower of Christ and reformed sinner (prostitute), later canonized.
18. A something else thereby: Some kind of a saint.
24. Yet: But; still or until that time.
25–6. Difference … angels do: Angels supposedly made love by mingling their essences, as John Milton (1608–74) explains in Paradise Lost (1667), VIII, 620ff.
27–8. Coming and going … kiss: Kissing was socially acceptable upon arrival and departure.
28. those meals: Those kisses that nourished our souls.
29. seals: Tokens or symbols of a covenant; that which seals their lips, their vows of silence; colloquialism for genitalia.
32. pass: Surpass.
The Damp
5. damp: Harmful vapour or gas; also a dazed or stupefied condition.
7–8. prefer … massacre: Elevate your murder of me to a massacre of all those who look upon your picture.
21. Kill … die: Experience sexual orgasm.
23–4. Your … any man: Your passivity makes you more powerful than any man.
Text note: 24 In that 1633] Naked 1635
The Dissolution
title Dissolution: The poem plays on various meanings of the word: death; separation into constituent elements; excess or extravagance; the action of bringing to an end; weakening, enfeeblement; dissolving of a connection, union or bond; sexual gratification.
1. dead: Devoid of life; benumbed, insensible; inactive, ineffectual.
9–10. My fire … despair: Alludes to the four traditional elements: fire, air, water and earth.
13. repair: Replenish.
20. store: Sufficient or abundant supply of something; a person’s accumulated goods and money.
21. use: Expenditure, with a possible connotation of sexual activity.
24. more: A possible allusion to Anne More.
A Jet Ring Sent
title Jet: A dense, semi-precious black form of coal polished to a shiny brilliance.
1. black: The colour black; clouded with sorrow.
7. Figure: Symbolize.
10. Circle … thumb: Thumb rings were common among the wealthy.
Negative Love
3. Seldom: Rarely stooped.
7. silly: Simple, ignorant.
8. miss: Fail to obtain what I want, a woman.
12. negatives: The mystical tradition of the via negativa defined God not by what He is, but rather by what He is not.
18. speed: Meet with success or good fortune.
The Prohibition
3. repair: Restore to good condition by making up for previous loss or waste; restore to a previous state, reinstate; make amends for harm done.
5. then: When I die.
11. officer: Agent of justice and revenge.
19. die the gentler way: Die from your love or from making love with you, rather than from your hate.
20. great: Proud, arrogant; distinguished, aristocratic.
21. these two: Love and hate.
22. stage: A degree or step in a ladder; a platform on which plays are exhibited; a stage in a journey.
triumph: Victory, conquest; the exultation of victory, rapturous delight.
Text notes: 5 thee 1635] me 1633; 5 what to me 1635] that which 1633; 18 neither’s ms] ne’r their 1633; 22 stage ms] stay 1633
The Expiration
2. vapours: Vaporizes.
4. benight: Darken or cloud.
12. Being double dead: Both by departing and by bidding his love to go.
Text notes: 5 asked ms] ask 1633; 9 Or 1635–69] Oh 1633
The Computation
7. divide: Distinguish.
9. this, long life: The poem’s computation of 2,400 years (100 years per hour) is short compared to immortality.
10. dead … die: Possible sexual connotation, with ‘die’ meaning to experience orgasm.
The Paradox
6. killed: Donne plays on the sexual connotation of ‘die’ (experience orgasm) and ‘kill’ throughout.
7–8. Love … much cold: Love kills more of the young with excess heat, while death kills the old with excess cold.
14. the light’s life: The sun.
Text notes: title The Paradox 1635] untitled 1633; 14 light’s life ms] life’s light 1633; 17 loved ms] love 1633; 20 lie ms] die 1633–69
Farewell to Love
1. Whil’st yet to prove: While still untested in the ways of life.
10. wax: Grow.
size: Enlarge, suggesting sexual arousal.
11–12. from late fair / His Highness: A gingerbread figure purchased for children at a recent fair.
14. the thing: Lovemaking.
18. them all: All the senses.
22. cocks and lions: Reputedly the only animals that do not experience post-coital let-down.
28–30. Because … posterity: Refers to the brevity of sexual intercourse, which increases desire to encourage procreation; also a pun on ‘posterity’ and ‘posterior’.
35. moving beauties: Beautiful women who arouse desire.
40. worm-seed: Dried heads of various plants used against intestinal worms and as an anaphrodisiac.
A Lecture upon the Shadow
8. brave: Magnificent, courageous.
9. whil’st … did grow: During the morning, or early phase, of their love, when the lovers took care to hide their love from others.
11. cares: Concerns, attentions; troubles, anxieties.
16. the first: The first shadows, the
morning shadows.
17. these: The afternoon shadows, which are still to come.
20–21. To me … disguise: You will disguise your actions falsely to me, and I will disguise my actions falsely to you.
Text note: Copy-text, 1635; title ms] Song 1635, Lecture upon the Shadow 1650; 26 first ms] short 1635–69
Image of Her Whom I Love
1. Image: Idealized mental picture.
3. medal: Stamped metal disk, used as an ornament.
8. the more: The stronger the image’s impression.
11. meaner: More moderate; more common.
24. For even … snuff: Even at its start, life is like a candle already burnt to the wick.
Text note: title ed.] Elegie 1633, Eleg. X. The Dreame 1635
Sonnet. The Token
6. strain: Thread; pressure.
7. new-touched: By love.
17. score: A list, enumeration.
Text notes: Copy-text, 1649; 1 token ms] tokens 1649–69; 2 Or 1649–69] And ms; 14 ’cause ’tis like thee best ms] ’cause ’tis like the best 1649–69, because best like the ms; 17 score 1649–69] store ms
Self Love
5. all his own: Egotistic; vain.
8. list: Please.
17. still: Always.
18. thralled: Enslaved.
22. prove: Approve.
Text notes: Copy-text, 1650; 6 can at ms] cannot 1650; 16 want nor crave ms] omitted 1650; 17 pays ms] prays 1650–69
When My Heart Was Mine Own
36 in earth: In earthenware.
Text notes: Copy-text, HM198 at the Huntington Library; title ed.] omitted HM198; 9 all ms] ill HM198; 9 ere ms] before HM198; 25 thee ms] the HM198; 49 and ms] is HM198
EPIGRAMS
Hero and Leander
title Hero and Leander: Mythical lovers who lived on opposite sides of the strait separating Europe and Asia. Each night Leander would swim across the strait, but one night he drowned in a storm. When she found his body washed up on shore, Hero drowned herself.
1–2. air … water: Referring to the four traditional elements: fire, air, water and earth.
2. fire: Burning passion.
Pyramus and Thisbe
title Pyramus and Thisbe: Mythical clandestine lovers who had arranged a tryst. Pyramus arrived and, believing Thisbe had been eaten by a lion, killed himself. When Thisbe returned and found him dead, she killed herself.
2. parting: Dying.
joined: Combined, united physically; linked or united in marriage.