by John Donne
Niobe
title Niobe: Mythical queen of Thebes who believed she was superior to the goddess Leto because she had more children. As punishment, Leto’s children, Apollo and Diana, killed Niobe’s children, and Niobe was turned to stone. Yet she continued to cry.
Text note: 1 birth ms] births 1633
A Lame Beggar
2. lies: Either is prostrate or speaks falsely.
Cales and Guiana
title Cales and Guiana: ‘Cales’ refers to Cadiz, a city in south-west Spain, sacked by the English in 1596. Many, including Donne, believed an attack on the Spanish at Guiana, in South America, should be next.
1. you: Probably addressed to the courtier, explorer and author Sir Walter Ralegh (1554–1618), who allegedly favoured an expedition to Guiana.
spoil: The action of pillaging or plundering.
th’old world’s farthest end: Cadiz is located to the west of Gibraltar, regarded as the limit of the old world.
Text note: Copy-text, Westmoreland ms
Sir John Wingefield
title Sir John Wingefield: Colonel in the Earl of Essex’s expedition to Cadiz, in south-west Spain, where he died and was buried in 1596.
1. pillars: The cliffs at the mouth of the Strait of Gibraltar, called the ‘Pillars of Hercules’, were regarded as the limits of the old world.
3. fitter pillar: Wingefield; also a phallic image, with sexual double entendre.
our Earl: Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex (1565–1601).
4. late island: Because Cadiz is so far to the west, the sun sets later there. (Cadiz stands not on an island, but on a narrow peninsula.) Possible sexual puns on ‘travailed’, ‘pillar’, ‘know’, ‘go’.
Text note: Copy-text, Westmoreland ms
A Self Accuser
1. mistress: Either a lover or a wife. A woman was considered responsible for her husband’s morality, and so she would be blamed if he cheated on her.
taxeth: Reproves, blames or accuses.
A Licentious Person
2. thy hairs do fall: Hair loss is a symptom of syphilis. Also, ‘hairs’ is a possible pun on ‘heirs’ and ‘whores’.
The Juggler
Text note: Copy-text, Westmoreland ms; title The Juggler modern editors] untitled Westmoreland ms
Disinherited
title Disinherited: Either an appellation indicating high rank or that which justifies a claim.
The Liar
3. Nebuchadnezzar: Biblical king of Babylon (r.c. 605–562 BC), who went mad and ate grass as the oxen did (Daniel 4:33).
4. Spanish dieting: The English disapproved of the Spanish diet, which was rich in leek-like vegetables.
Text note: Copy-text, Westmoreland ms
Mercurius Gallo-Belgicus
title Mercurius Gallo-Belgicus: An annual published at Cologne beginning in 1594, notorious for its poor Latin and false reports.
1. Aesop’s fellow-slaves: Aesop, the legendary author of a collection of Greek fables, was supposedly once a slave. While being auctioned, he and his fellow slaves were asked what they could do. Two pompously replied ‘Everything,’ but Aesop answered ‘Nothing.’
Mercury: Roman god, patron of thieves.
5. credit … credit: Credulousness … trustworthiness.
8. liest like a Greek: Greeks were traditionally believed to be dishonest.
Phrine
title Phrine: A courtesan who posed for the famous, erotic sculpture Aphrodite of Knidos by the ancient Greek sculptor Praxiteles (flourished 370–330 BC).
An Obscure Writer
1. Philo: A prefix meaning ‘love of’ something.
Klockius
title Klockius: Probably from the Dutch kloek, ‘a sly person’.
1. come: Both to enter and to experience sexual orgasm.
Text note: title Klockius ms] untitled 1633
Raderus
title Raderus: Matthew Rader (1561–1634), a German Jesuit who edited and published Martial’s works in 1602.
1. Martial: A first-century AD Roman poet, considered the ‘Father of the Epigram’.
3. Katherine: Possibly Catherine Parr (1512–48), sixth wife of Henry VIII.
stews: Brothels.
Ralphius
1. Compassion: Suffering together with another.
2. Ralphius: The name Ralph was often given to members of the lower classes.
broker: Pawnbroker.
keeps: Both ‘holds on to’ and ‘stays in’.
Text note: title Ralphius ms] untitled 1633
Faustus
title Faustus: A magician who reputedly sold his soul to the Devil.
Text notes: Copy-text, Hawthornden ms; title Faustus modern editors] untitled Hawthornden ms
ELEGIES
Elegy 1. The Bracelet
9. angels: Dual meaning throughout of spirits and English gold coins stamped with the archangel Michael slaying a dragon.
10. leaven: Admixture.
23. crowns: French gold coins bearing a crown on one side.
24. natural country’s rot: Syphilis, particularly attributed to France, the coins’ native country.
28. Their crowns are circumcised: Trimmed coins were worthless.
Jewishly: Like Jewish men, for whom circumcision is a sign of their covenant with God.
30. Catholic: Also universal.
31. unlicked bear-whelps: Bear cubs were thought to be licked into shape at birth by their mothers.
pistolets: Small firearms; also irregularly shaped Spanish coins.
42. seventeen-headed Belgia: The seventeen provinces of the Low-lands (Belgium and the Netherlands), which were fighting for independence from Spain.
55. crier: Town crier.
56. groat: An old silver coin.
61. divided heaven in tenements: Astrologers divided the heavens into houses of the zodiac.
62. rents: Fees, revenues.
71. fallen angels: Angels expelled from heaven and confined to hell after joining Satan’s rebellion against God (Revelation 12:7–9).
78. Virtues, Powers, and Principalities: Orders of angels.
112. Gold is restorative: Gold was thought to cure diseases, especially of the heart.
114. cordial: Belonging to or reviving the heart.
Text notes: Copy-text, 1635; title ed.] Eleg. XII. Vpon the losse of his Mistresses Chaine, for which he made satisfaction 1635; 6 are tied ms] were knit 1635; 8 luck’s ms] luck 1635; 11 taint ms] way 1635; 24 them, their natural country’s ms] these, their country’s natural 1635; 26 So lean, so pale, so lame ms] So pale, so lame, so lean 1635; 55 O ms] And 1635; 58 they ms] he 1635; 60 Which ms] That 1635; 60 schemes ms] scenes 1635; 65 And ms] But 1635; 66 O ms] Yet 1635; 98 that ms] it 1635; 113 Or ms] But 1635–69; 113 with ms] from 1633
Elegy 2. The Comparison
The poem alternates between descriptions of the speaker’s mistress (1–6, 15–18, 23–4, 27–8, 35–8, 49–52) and descriptions of his interlocutor’s mistress (7–14, 19–22, 25–6, 29–34, 39–48).
2. that which … trill: Secretions of musk deer, used to make perfume.
3. balm of … East: The balm of Gilead, a tree resin known for its fragrance.
6. carcanets: Ornamental collars or necklaces. The 1633 edition has ‘coronets’, which are small crowns.
8. issue: Discharge.
menstruous: Corrupt, polluted, unclean. The references to sperm and menstrual fluid imply genital sores.
10. Sanserra’s: In 1573 the Protestants in Sanserra, near Bourges in France, suffered widespread starvation while resisting the Catholic army of Charles IX of France (r. 1560–74).
12. sovereign: Potent.
13. vile stones: Paltry, cheap jewels.
saffroned tin: Tin dyed yellow-orange to imitate gold.
14. wheals: Pimples, pustules.
16. the fatal ball … on Ide: In Greek myth, Paris, son of the king of Troy, who was tending flocks on Mount Ida, was asked to decide which of three goddesses should receive a
golden apple inscribed ‘For the fairest’. Aphrodite’s successful attempt to bribe him with Helen, the wife of the king of Sparta, sparked the Trojan War.
17. that: The forbidden apple from the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden that Eve ate, causing the Fall of Man (Genesis 3).
jealousy: Anger, wrath.
18. ravishing: Plundering.
21. first Chaos: The formless void of primordial matter from which God created heaven and earth, according to Genesis 1:1–2.
22. Cynthia: The moon.
23. Proserpina’s … chest: Venus, the goddess of love, ordered Psyche, a beautiful maiden, the personification of the human soul, to bring her some of the beauty of Proserpina (the wife of Pluto, the ruler of the underworld) in a chest.
24. best fortune’s urn: Jove had two urns, one of good and one of ill fortune.
28. woodbine: A vine.
31. quarters: Criminals’ corpses, quartered into four sections, each containing a limb, were frequently hung in public areas.
35. chemic’s: Chemist, druggist.
36. limbeck’s: Distilling apparatus.
38. best loved part: Genitals.
41. Etna: An active volcano in Sicily.
47. last act: Intercourse.
49. turtles: Turtle doves, symbols of conjugal affection and constancy.
51. nice: Delicate, precise.
Text notes: title ed.] Elegie 1633, Eleg. VIII. The Comparison 1635; 4 on ms] of 1633; 6 carcanets ms] coronets 1633; 14 they hang ms] it hangs 1633; 37 dirt ms] part 1633; 43 kissings ms] kisses 1633
Elegy 3. The Perfume
2. escapes: Breaches of chastity.
3. at bar: In court.
6. hydroptic: Having an insatiable thirst.
7. glazed: Staring intently or wearing glasses.
8. cockatrice: A basilisk; a monster believed to have the power to kill with its glance; also a whore.
10–11. beauty’s beauty … Hope of his goods: The speaker’s lover’s greatest attraction is her inheritance.
20. swoll’n: Pregnant.
21. To try … strange meats: Names strange foods to see if she has the cravings associated with pregnancy.
23. politicly: Shrewdly, artfully.
29. ingled: Fondled or caressed (with suggestion of sexual perversity).
34. Rhodian Colossus: A huge statue of Apollo once stood in the Greek city of Rhodes, supposedly with one foot on either side of the harbour.
41. loud: Powerful.
57. excrement: Product, excreted substance.
59. thee: Perfume.
seely: Silly, simple.
61. man’s estate: Manhood.
Text notes: title ed.] Elegie IV 1633, Elegy IV. The Perfume 1635; 7–8 omitted from 1633; 37 for ms] to 1633
Elegy 4. Jealousy
1. Fond: Affectionate; foolish.
4. sere-bark: Cloth, saturated with wax, used for medicinal purposes.
6. crocheting: Breaking a whole note into four quarter notes or crotchets.
14. hearts-bane: Poisonous; destructive.
18. deformity: Both his moral flaw (jealousy) and physical disfigurement (obesity).
19. board: Table.
32. seely: Silly; feeble.
pensionary: Paid.
Text note: title ed.] Elegie I 1633, Elegie I. Jealousie 1635
Elegy 5. O, Let Me Not Serve So
2. honour’s smokes: The illusion of gaining honours.
6. styles: Titles.
7. tribute: Payment by one state to another in acknowledgement of submission or as the price of security.
9. dead names: Empty titles.
10. Favourite in ordinary: A regular servant, as opposed to a temporary one.
24. channel’s bosom: River bed.
25. brows: Projecting edges.
42. Rome: The Roman Catholic Church.
45. recusant: One, most often a Roman Catholic, who refused to attend Church of England services.
Text notes: title ed.] Elegie VII 1633, Eleg. VI 1635; 6 with ms] which 1633
Elegy 6. Nature’s Lay Idiot
title Nature’s Lay Idiot: One unlearned in Nature’s law.
1. thee: The speaker’s mistress.
9–10. the alphabet / Of flowers: How flowers may be arranged to convey secret love messages.
13, 15, 17. since: When.
14. I: Also aye or yes.
friends: Kinfolk.
19. sentences: Sayings.
21. from the’world’s common: From society.
22. Inlaid: Confined.
23. As mine: As you are mine.
26. knowledge and life’s tree: The Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life stood in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3); here they are mentioned with sexual innuendo.
28. Frame … in glass: Make an enamelled, gilded goblet only to drink from glass.
29. Chafe: Heat.
seals: Also, slang for ‘genitalia’; the subsequent sexual innuendoes follow from that.
Text note: title ed.] Elegie VIII 1633, Eleg. VII 1635
Elegy 7. Love’s War
3. are scrupulous: Have rules, unlike love.
5. Flanders: Region of the Netherlands, where citizens revolted against the Catholic king, Philip II of Spain (r. 1556–98), who was attempting to suppress Protestantism.
6. press: Oppress; attack.
10. Ever: Always.
our God of late: England had recently become Protestant, while France was still Roman Catholic.
11. angels: Gold coins sent to support Henri de Navarre’s pursuit of the French throne.
12. ne’er return: Queen Elizabeth’s gold went to waste because Henri de Navarre converted to Catholicism.
they which fell: Fallen angels.
13. strange war: Ireland, now at war, now at peace, is like a recurrent illness or ague (l. 14).
17. Midas’: The mythical king Midas; whatever he touched turned to gold.
journeys: English raids on Spanish ships produced gold and silver, but like Midas, failed to provide basic necessities like food.
21. mew: Enclose.
24. swaggering: Boasting; quarrelsome.
25. consumptions: Wasting diseases.
37. engines: Offensive weapons.
39. uprightly lie: Withhold the truth without fear of harm; ‘lie’ flat on one’s back.
43. travail: Travel; labour.
Text note: Copy-text, Westmoreland ms. First printed in F. G. Waldron’s The Shakespearean Miscellany: Miscellaneous Poetry, 1802
Elegy 8. To His Mistress Going to Bed
4. standing: With a bawdy pun, continued with ‘upright’ in l. 24.
7. breastplate: Jewelled bodice.
8. busy: Prying, meddlesome.
11. busk: Corset.
14. meads: Meadows.
21. Mahomet’s paradise: Islamic paradise, filled with sensual pleasures; pronunciation ‘Máh(o)met’s’.
23. these angels: Women.
29. empery: Territory ruled by an emperor.
30. discovering: Also uncovering.
32. seal: Heraldic device impressed in wax; also colloquial expression for genitals.
36. Atlanta’s balls: Distracted by the golden apples thrown in her path, Atalanta, a legendary huntress of Greek myth, lost a race against one of her suitors; here the sex roles are reversed.
Text notes: Copy-text, 1669; title ed.] To his mistress going to bed 1669; 5 zones glistering ms] zone glittering 1669; 10 ’tis your ms] it is 1669; 14 from ms] through 1669; 14 shadow ms] shadows 1669; 16 you ms] your head 1669; 17 safely ms] softly 1669; 20 Received by ms] Revealed to 1669; 26 Behind, before, above, between ms] Before, behind, between, above 1669; 30 How blest am I in this ms] How am I blessed in thus 1669; 36 balls ms] ball 1669; 38 covet theirs ms] court that 1669; 46 much less ms] due to 1669
Elegy 9. Change
3. apostasy: Abandonment of moral or religious allegiance.
6. unknown: Both undiscovered and not known carnally.
1
1. Foxes and goats: Traditional symbols of cunning and lechery.
15. clogs: Hindrances.
24. like: Alike.
25. it: This liberty (see l. 21).
Text notes: title ed.] Elegie III 1633, Eleg. III Change 1635; 23 then if so thou ms] and if that thou so 1633; 32 worse ms] more 1633
Elegy 10. The Anagram
5. light: Light-coloured; frivolous, promiscuous.
8. maidenhead: Virginity; also a pun, for if he gives her his hair, she will have a proper maiden’s head.
14. musk and amber: Odoriferous substances, obtained from musk deer and sperm whales (ambergris) respectively, used to make perfume.
where: Where they came from.
19. gamut: The complete series of recognized notes.
30. those which fell to worse: The ‘fallen’ angels who were cast into hell following the battle in heaven (Revelation 12:7–9).
35. barren: Childless.
husbands: Both husbandmen or farmers and married men.
37. sovereign plaster: Extremely potent curative, applied externally.
40. marmoset: Literally, a small monkey; figuratively, a grotesque figure.
41–2. When Belgia’s cities … town: When the dykes are opened, Seawater floods the countryside, protecting the cities and towns of Belgium from attack.
46. Moors: Muslims from north-west Africa.
50. tympany: Swelling, tumour.
53. dildoes, bedstaves, and her velvet glass: Artificial penises, bedboards and her velvet-backed mirror, all tools of female masturbation.
54. as loath … Joseph was: When his master’s wife asked him to lie with her, Joseph refused (Genesis 39:7–12).
56. wear: Possess and enjoy as one’s own.
Text notes: title ed.] Elegie II 1633, Eleg. II. The Anagram 1635; 49 childbirth’s ms] childbed’s 1633; 53–4 Whom … Joseph was ms, 1669] omitted 1633
Elegy 11. On His Mistress
1. fatal interview: Fated meeting.
3. remorse: Pity.
8. divorcement: Complete separation.
9. conjure: Entreat.
14. my feigned page: Disguised as my young male servant.
17. before: Before I return.
21–3. Boreas’s harshness … Orithea: Donne alters the story of Boreas, the god of the North Wind, who kidnapped the mortal princess Orithyia and made her his immortal wife, to suggest that Boreas raped and destroyed her.
24–5. to have proved / Dangers unurged: To have tested dangers not thrust upon one.
27. Dissemble: Disguise.
