The 'labours' of _1633_
represents
a
common dropping of the 't' for ease of pronunciation.
common dropping of the 't' for ease of pronunciation.
John Donne
Therefore I will bury, not you indeed, but
a part of you. ' (3) To be saved is the lover's usual prayer; and the
idea of the poem is that his death is due to the lady's cruelty.
Come not, when I am dead,
To drop thy foolish tears upon my grave,
To trample round my fallen head,
And vex the unhappy dust thou wouldst not save.
There let the wind sweep and the plover cry;
But thou go by.
Compare also the Letter _To M^{rs} M. H. _ (pp. 216-8), where the same
idea recurs:
When thou art there, if any, whom we know,
Were sav'd before, and did that heaven partake, &c.
PAGE =59=. THE BLOSSOME.
l. 10. _labour'st. _ The form with 't' occurs in most of the MSS. , and
't' is restored in _1635_.
The 'labours' of _1633_ represents a
common dropping of the 't' for ease of pronunciation. See Franz,
_Shakespeare-Grammatik_, ? 152. It is colloquial, and I doubt if Donne
would have preserved it if he had printed the poem, supposing that he
wrote the word so, and not some copyist.
ll. 21-4. _You goe to friends, whose love and meanes present
Various content
To your eyes, eares, and tongue, and every part:
If then your body goe, what need you a heart? _
I have adopted the MS. readings 'tongue' and 'what need you a heart? '
because they seem to me more certainly what Donne wrote. He may have
altered them, but so may an editor. 'Tongue' is more exactly parallel
to eyes and ears, and the whole talk is of organs. 'What need you a
heart? ' is more pointed. 'With these organs of sense, what need have
you of a heart? ' The idiom was not uncommon, the verb being used
impersonally.
a part of you. ' (3) To be saved is the lover's usual prayer; and the
idea of the poem is that his death is due to the lady's cruelty.
Come not, when I am dead,
To drop thy foolish tears upon my grave,
To trample round my fallen head,
And vex the unhappy dust thou wouldst not save.
There let the wind sweep and the plover cry;
But thou go by.
Compare also the Letter _To M^{rs} M. H. _ (pp. 216-8), where the same
idea recurs:
When thou art there, if any, whom we know,
Were sav'd before, and did that heaven partake, &c.
PAGE =59=. THE BLOSSOME.
l. 10. _labour'st. _ The form with 't' occurs in most of the MSS. , and
't' is restored in _1635_.
The 'labours' of _1633_ represents a
common dropping of the 't' for ease of pronunciation. See Franz,
_Shakespeare-Grammatik_, ? 152. It is colloquial, and I doubt if Donne
would have preserved it if he had printed the poem, supposing that he
wrote the word so, and not some copyist.
ll. 21-4. _You goe to friends, whose love and meanes present
Various content
To your eyes, eares, and tongue, and every part:
If then your body goe, what need you a heart? _
I have adopted the MS. readings 'tongue' and 'what need you a heart? '
because they seem to me more certainly what Donne wrote. He may have
altered them, but so may an editor. 'Tongue' is more exactly parallel
to eyes and ears, and the whole talk is of organs. 'What need you a
heart? ' is more pointed. 'With these organs of sense, what need have
you of a heart? ' The idiom was not uncommon, the verb being used
impersonally.
