A John Donne Companion (Routledge Revivals)

Robert H. Ray

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• Print ISBN: 9780367475864
• eBook ISBN: 9781317681465
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: English Literary Criticism
• Index: Literature

First published in 1990, this title provides a compendium of useful information for any reader of Donne to have at hand: crucial biographical material, historical contextualisation, and details about his life's work. The intention throughout is to enhance understanding and appreciation, without being exhaustive. The major portion of the volume, in both importance and size, is 'A Donne Dictionary'. Its entries are arranged alphabetically: they identify, describe and explain the most influential persons in Donne's life and works, as well as places, characters, allusions, ideas, concepts, individual words, phrases and literary terms that are relevant to a rounded appreciation of his poetry and prose.

A Jonne Donne Companion will prove invaluable for all students of English poetry and Anglican theology.

A DONNE DICTIONARY

A

Abednego. See “CHILDREN IN THE OVEN.”

Abel. Second son of Adam and Eve. He was a keeper of sheep (foreshadowing Christ as the Good Shepherd). Abel was killed by his brother CAIN and thus suffered the first death after the fall and was the first martyr. See Genesis 4.

Abydos. City in which Leander lived: see HERO.

Accident. Noun. A special meaning (from ARISTOTLE) refers to the variable property of any material thing. Compare SUBSTANCE. In some contexts it refers to: (1) something nonessential, (2) anything that happens, (3) anything that happens unexpectedly or by chance.

Accidental. Adjective form of ACCIDENT (see above).

Adamant. Noun: magnet or lodestone (loadstone).

Admire. Verb: (1) to wonder, marvel, or be surprised; (2) to view with wonder or surprise; (3) to look upon with pleasure or approval or affection.()

Admit. Verb: (1) to allow to enter, to let in; (2) to permit or allow; (3) to acknowledge; (4) to accept as true, to concede as fact.

Aesculapius. In mythology, son of Apollo and Coronis. God of medicine and healing. Restored many to health and raised Hippolytus from the dead: Zeus killed Aesculapius for the latter deed, since Zeus wanted none to have such power.

Aesop. Greek writer of fables in the 6th century B.C., possibly legendary rather than an actual person. The Greek historian Herodotus says that he was a slave on the island of Samos. His tales are anecdotal, usually with human-like animals as the main characters, and give a view of some typical human types. Each fable leads to a moral or lesson.

In one of his EPIGRAMS (“Mercurius Gallo-Belgicus”) Donne alludes to the supposition that Aesop was a slave. He also refers there to a story that Aesop was purchased because two other slaves told the prospective owner that they knew everything, while Aesop told him that he knew nothing since the other two knew all. Donne refers to this same incident in a sermon preached on Ezekiel 34:19 (see Potter and Simpson edition, X, Sermon 7, p.172). In “Satire 5” (lines 88–91) Donne alludes to the truth of Aesop's fables and particularly to the one of the dog who held meat in his mouth, saw his reflection in the water, tried to grab the meat from the mouth in the reflection, and lost the meat he already had. In a sermon of 1628 (see Potter and Simpson, VIII, Sermon 14, p. 316) Donne refers to the reputed violent death of Aesop as analogous to that of ABEL. Also see FABLE OF KING LOG AND KING STORK.

Aetna. See ETNA.

Affect. Verb: (1) to aspire to or seek to obtain, (2) to like or love, (3) to frequent or inhabit, (4) to influence or act upon.

Affection. Noun: (1) emotion or feeling; (2) disposition, inclination, mental tendency; (3) fondness; (4) biased feeling.

Affects the metaphysics. See METAPHYSICAL.

Afford. Verb: (1) to perform or accomplish, (2) to grant or bestow or give of what one has, (3) to be capable of yielding, (4) to supply from resources or to yield naturally.()

Agaric. Noun: a mushroom used as a medicine to reduce phlegm (one of the HUMORS) and to reduce fever.

Ague. Noun: a fever accompanied by chills and shaking.

Air. Noun: (1) one of the four ELEMENTS, (2) the atmosphere or space just above the earth, (3) breath or sigh.

“Air and Angels.” One of the SONGS AND SONNETS, indeed one of the most complex and debated of the group. Its philosophical background, wordplay, paradoxes, shifting viewpoints, METAPHYSICAL CONCEITS, ambiguous pronoun references, and mingling of humor and seriousness all contribute to the puzzles that each reader ultimately must contend with and solve.

Paradoxically, the man speaking loved the woman addressed before he met her because she seems the abstract ideal of love in a woman that he had formulated in stages for himself (and that previous women did not fully qualify for?). The conceit compares this situation to the way one senses the immaterial presence of an angel before the angel itself appears materially (which it does by taking on a body of air, as medieval philosophy argued—see AQUINAS). But this particular woman herself appears to be a bodiless ideal, a spiritual manifestation, the angel itself (a “lovely glorious nothing”). In attempting to solve his problem of defining and expressing love, the man turns to some assumptions from Renaissance PLATONIC philosophy: as Bembo in Castiglione's THE COURTIER says, love originates in the soul and is the means by which the soul enjoys beauty; therefore, the man can say that love is the child of the soul. The child can do no more than its parent, and, since the soul has to act through a body to express itself, similarly the “child” (the speaker's feeling or idea of love) has to take on a body to express itself. One might note in lines 9–10 an example of Donne's ambiguous phrasing that fosters double meaning: (1) love must not be more subtle than its parent (the soul) is and thus must express itself through a body just as the soul does, and (2) love must not only be (i.e., only exist in an ideal of spiritual contemplation) but also do (communicate itself through bodily expression, through physical action). The body assumed by love, then, is the lady's body (her physical characteristics). He thinks that by enjoying her physical beauty his ideal of love will be fulfilled. Donne here cleverly shifts emphasis toward defining the angelic and spiritual entity (previously the lady herself) as now exclusively the speaker's own spiritual love. He attempts, then, to embody his spiritual love in her physical beauty.

But his little ship of spiritual love (“pinnace”) is now overloaded with her tremendous physical beauty (the brief conceit centered around a ship at the beginning of the second stanza perhaps anticipated by one of the possible secondary meanings of “SUBTILE” in the first stanza, line 19: possessing the quality of slenderness, in reference to a ship). He discovers (middle of the second stanza) that love can embody itself neither in “nothing” (recalling line 6), the extremely insubstantial and spiritual ideal, nor in the extremely material of bodily, physical beauty. This implies that a combination of physical and spiritual is best, but he expresses it in a witty conceit of his love as the angel (that takes on a body of air and that, as an INTELLIGENCE, directs a Ptolemaic SPHERE) and her love as both the air taken on to serve as the angel's body and as the sphere in which the angel resides. Despite his joking comment at the end about the greater purity of the angel (man's love) compared to air (woman's love), her love for him satisfies the ideal that his love seeks. Their loves combine in a happy medium between the impossible extremes of physical and spiritual, in trying to experience love between body and soul, and, instead, their love partakes of both realms. Additionally, one partner will supply what the other lacks in such a mutual relationship in the real world of love.

Individual interpretation of and disagreement about this poem might center on determining Donne's tones and possible wordplay, especially the relevant multiple meanings from Donne's time of “AFFECT,” “ALLOW,” “ASSUME,” “INHERE,” and “SUBTILE,” in the poem's context. Is it, for example, possible that Donne is having fun with one of several relevant meanings of “assume” in line 13, one of which might be that love “assumes” a body, when commonly it is the body that “assumes” food, drink, nourishment?

Alchemist. See ALCHEMY.

Alchemy. The “science” or “chemistry” of the Middle Ages and Renaissance that attempted to turn base metals into gold by the use of a “philosopher's stone.” Also, these practitioners of alchemy, the alchemists (or “chemics”), wanted to concoct or extract an “elixir” (or “elixir vitae”), a miraculous medicine that supposedly would cure all disease and prolong life. This elixir was also referred to as the “quintessence” (or “fifth essence”), an absolutely pure substance that could purge impurities. It was believed by some to be latent in all matter but that it is what makes up the heavenly bodies. One must note that Donne and other writers commonly do not distinguish between the “philosopher's stone” and the “elixir” and the “quintessence,” but use these terms interchangeably. An important part of the combining and distilling apparatus used by the alchemists is the “alembic” or “limbeck,” a womb-shaped retort with a rounded, bulbous bottom (referred to by Donne in “LOVE'S ALCHEMY” as the alchemist's “pregnant pot”): in this would be placed the chemicals to be combined, heated, and distilled into a smaller receiving vessel. In Donne's time, alchemy and alchemists were recognized as being fraudulent and as making claims that could not be supported by results—i.e., as the “imposture” designated in “LOVE'S ALCHEMY.”

Also see PARACELSUS.

Aldgate. A city gate of London that was rebuilt in 1609.

Alembic. See ALCHEMY.

Alexander's great excess. Phrase in line 252 of “Obsequies to the Lord Harrington,” one of the EPICEDES AND OBSEQUIES. Alexander the Great mourned so excessively over the death of his friend Hephaestion that he pillaged walls and other defenses of towns to have material to build monuments to Hephaestion (see lines 253–54).

Alleyn, Edward (1566–1626). Respected actor who was Donne's son-in-law for the last three years of Alleyn's life. See DONNE, CONSTANCE.

Allophanes. Character speaking in one of Donne's EPITHALAMIONS, the “Epithalamion at the Marriage of the Earl of Somerset” (in the “Eclogue” and at the closing of the poem). The Greek name means “appearing otherwise” or “appearing like another” and thus seems to refer to Donne's friend Sir Robert Ker [see KER, ROBERT (1)] who has the same name as (and was a follower of) Robert Ker, Earl of Somerset, the bridegroom [see KER, ROBERT (2)]. Allophanes asks IDIOS (a character apparently representing Donne himself) why he is not at Court (with its light and warmth) at the marriage, instead having chosen to remain isolated in the cold countryside during Christmas (the marriage being on December 26, 1613). Allophanes speaks of the great generosity, justice, and virtue that Idios misses in the Court of the King (i.e., King JAMES). Idios responds that he knew of all of these qualities and implies that he rather shamefacedly withdrew, since he had “no grace to say” at such a “great feast” (line 96). But he did compose a “nuptial song” (line 99) to celebrate that great marriage and thus presents the “Epithalamion” itself to Allophanes to read. After this reading by his friend, Idios says that he will burn the “paper” now to complete properly his sacrifice, but Allophanes refuses to let him destroy the poem. Allophanes says that he will return to Court and present it to those who will “prize your devotion” (i.e., to Lord and Lady Somerset). (For another view of Allophanes, however, see first essay by Dubrow under “Critical Studies: Epithalamions” in “Selected Bibliography.”)

Allow. Verb: (1) to praise or commend, (2) to approve of, (3) to accept as reasonable or valid, (4) to permit.

Allure. Verb: (1) to tempt, entice, charm; (2) to draw to oneself, to draw forth, to elicit.

Almoner. Noun: (1) an official who distributes the alms, the charity, of another—i.e., the King or Queen had such an official; (2) one who gives alms.

Amalgamating disparate experience. See DISSOCIATION OF SENSIBILITY.

Amber. Noun: (1) ambergris: waxy, oily substance secreted from a whale, used in cooking and in perfumes; (2) yellow translucent fossil resin, used for ornaments, and often found hardened around trapped insects.

Ambrose, Saint (339?–397). Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397. Gave all of his property to the Church and to the poor and advocated a strict way of life. Publicly rebuked and imposed penance on the emperor Theodosius and argued for the Christian emperor being subject to such actions by his bishop. Learned in Neoplatonic philosophy (see PLATONIC). Converted and baptized AUGUSTINE, influencing him in Catholic Neoplatonism. Strengthened Christianity among the nobility and generally in the western world. Famous for his sermons and hymns. He is one of the four traditional “DOCTORS” of the western church. Frequently referred to in Donne's SERMONS.

Amiens. City in France where Donne stayed with SIR ROBERT DRURY during their continental journey in 1611–12. While here he wrote one of the VERSE LETTERS (“A Letter to the Lady Carey, and Mistress Essex Rich, From Amiens”).

Amorous evening star. Phrase (in line 61 of “Epithalamion Made at Lincoln's Inn”) that refers to the planet Venus (associated with the goddess of love).

Anatomy. Noun: (1) dissection, (2) a body or corpse for dissection, (3) a skeleton, (4) a probing, detailed analysis.

Anatomy of the World, An. See THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY.

Anchor. Ancor or Anker River in Warwickshire that ran through GOODYER's estate. See line 25 of “A Letter Written by Sir H. G. and J. D.,” one of the VERSE LETTERS.

Anchorit(e). A person who withdraws from the world in order to live as a religious recluse in a particular place.

Ancrum, 1st Earl of. See KER, ROBERT (1).

Angel. Noun: (1) spiritual beings, above man and below God in the hierarchy of creation, who attend God and serve as ministering spirits and divine messengers (see also HIERARCHY, THE HEAVENLY); (2) an English coin stamped with the image of the Archangel Michael piercing the Dragon (of Revelation). Writers of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, including Donne, frequently pun on the word.

Angelica. The heroine of Ariosto's Orlando Furioso who is the love object over which pairs of rival suitors fight. She escapes during the fights. Referred to in line 42 of “Satire 5.”

Animal spirits. Vapors believed to result from the transformation of VITAL SPIRITS that are carried by the arteries into the brain. Associated with the INTELLECTUAL part of man's nature.

“Anniversary, The.” One of the SONGS AND SONNETS. (One should not confuse this poem with THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY or THE SECOND ANNIVERSARY, together referred to as the Anniversaries.) The title, whether given by Donne or the compiler of one of the early manuscripts, reflects the passage of one year since the man speaking met the woman addressed. The emphatically-repeated and metrically-stressed “all” in the first several lines builds up impressively many worldly persons and values, only to contrast their ephemeral nature with the love possessed by himself and the lady. Even though a year has passed in their lives and in the lives of all those others being led to destruction by unstoppable mortality, their love is not decaying (and its uniqueness is underlined by the heavy stress on the first syllable of “Only”). Their love is constant and unchanging, with no past or future that can be distinguished from its present.

After booming forth eternal superiority...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Original Title Page
• Original Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Preface
• Research in Donne: Tools and Procedures
• A Donne Chronology
• Donne's Life
• Donne's Works
• A Donne Dictionary
• Selected Bibliography