Further
evidence may show that I have erred as to one or other.
evidence may show that I have erred as to one or other.
John Donne
538.
I owe this and the last reference to Mr.
Murray L.
R.
Beavan, University Assistant in History, Aberdeen University. ]
[Footnote 14: Other poems by Pembroke are found in the
manuscript collections of Donne's poems. A scholarly edition
of the poems of Pembroke and Rudyard would be a boon. Many
ascribed to them by the younger Donne in his edition of 1660
could be removed and others added from manuscript sources. ]
[Footnote 15: It is one of the worst printed in _1635_ and
_1669_ (where it first appeared in full), and has admitted
of many emendations from the manuscripts. Grosart has already
introduced some from the Hazlewood-Kingsborough MS. , but he
left some gross errors. In the lines,
That I may grow enamoured on your mind,
When my own thoughts I there reflected find,
all the three modern editions are content still to read,
When my own thoughts I there neglected find
--a strange reason for being enamoured. Some difficult and
perhaps corrupt lines still remain. ]
[Footnote 16: In forming this Appendix it was not my intention
to remove these poems dogmatically from under the aegis of
Donne's name. I wished rather to separate them from those
which are indubitably his and facilitate comparison.
Further
evidence may show that I have erred as to one or other. This
letter is the only one about which I feel any doubt myself. I
have taken as much trouble with their text as with the rest of
the poems. ]
[Footnote 17: _H40_ has no ascription. In the poem
just discussed the ascription made correctly, at least
intelligibly, in _RP31_, was transposed in _H40_. This must be
the later collection. See II. p. cxiv. ]
[Footnote 18: _Absence_ is printed, again unsigned, in _Wit
Restored in severall Select Poems not formerly published_.
(1658. )]
* * * * *
COMMENTARY.
[Sidenote: _Metaphysical Poetry. _]
Donne is a 'metaphysical' poet. The term was perhaps first applied
by Dryden, from whom Johnson borrowed it: 'He' (Donne) 'affects the
metaphysics, not only in his satires, but in his amorous verses, where
nature only should reign; and perplexes the minds of the fair sex with
the speculations of philosophy, where he should engage their hearts,
and entertain them with the softness of love. ' _Essay on Satire_.
Beavan, University Assistant in History, Aberdeen University. ]
[Footnote 14: Other poems by Pembroke are found in the
manuscript collections of Donne's poems. A scholarly edition
of the poems of Pembroke and Rudyard would be a boon. Many
ascribed to them by the younger Donne in his edition of 1660
could be removed and others added from manuscript sources. ]
[Footnote 15: It is one of the worst printed in _1635_ and
_1669_ (where it first appeared in full), and has admitted
of many emendations from the manuscripts. Grosart has already
introduced some from the Hazlewood-Kingsborough MS. , but he
left some gross errors. In the lines,
That I may grow enamoured on your mind,
When my own thoughts I there reflected find,
all the three modern editions are content still to read,
When my own thoughts I there neglected find
--a strange reason for being enamoured. Some difficult and
perhaps corrupt lines still remain. ]
[Footnote 16: In forming this Appendix it was not my intention
to remove these poems dogmatically from under the aegis of
Donne's name. I wished rather to separate them from those
which are indubitably his and facilitate comparison.
Further
evidence may show that I have erred as to one or other. This
letter is the only one about which I feel any doubt myself. I
have taken as much trouble with their text as with the rest of
the poems. ]
[Footnote 17: _H40_ has no ascription. In the poem
just discussed the ascription made correctly, at least
intelligibly, in _RP31_, was transposed in _H40_. This must be
the later collection. See II. p. cxiv. ]
[Footnote 18: _Absence_ is printed, again unsigned, in _Wit
Restored in severall Select Poems not formerly published_.
(1658. )]
* * * * *
COMMENTARY.
[Sidenote: _Metaphysical Poetry. _]
Donne is a 'metaphysical' poet. The term was perhaps first applied
by Dryden, from whom Johnson borrowed it: 'He' (Donne) 'affects the
metaphysics, not only in his satires, but in his amorous verses, where
nature only should reign; and perplexes the minds of the fair sex with
the speculations of philosophy, where he should engage their hearts,
and entertain them with the softness of love. ' _Essay on Satire_.
