_ Raleigh and his squadron lost the main fleet
while off the coast of Spain, before they set sail definitely for
the Azores.
while off the coast of Spain, before they set sail definitely for
the Azores.
John Donne
'There
is no fear now of our losing one another. ' Each squadron of a fleet
followed the light of its Admiral. Essex speaks of having lost, or
missing, 'Sir Walter Raleigh with thirty sailes that in the night
followed his light. ' _Purchas_, xx. 24-5.
l. 18. _Feathers and dust. _ 'He esteemeth John Done the first poet in
the world for some things: his verses of the Lost Chaine he hath by
heart; and that passage of the Calme, That dust and feathers doe not
stirre, all was soe quiet. Affirmeth Donne to have written all
his best peeces ere he was twenty-five yeares old. ' _Jonson's
Conversations with Drummond. _ When Donne wrote _The Calme_ he was in
his twenty-fifth year.
l. 21. _lost friends.
_ Raleigh and his squadron lost the main fleet
while off the coast of Spain, before they set sail definitely for
the Azores. He rejoined the fleet at the Islands. Donne's poem was
probably written in the interval.
The reading of some MSS. , 'lefte friends,' is quite a possible one.
Carleton, writing from Venice to Chamberlain, says: 'Let me tell you,
for your comfort (for I imagine what is mine is yours) that my last
news from the left island . . . took knowledge of my vigilancy and
diligency. ' The 'left island' is Great Britain, and Donne may mean no
more than that 'we can neither get back to our friends nor on to our
enemies. ' There may be no allusion to Raleigh's ships.
l. 23. _the Calenture. _ 'A disease incident to sailors within the
tropics, characterized by delirium in which the patient, it is said,
fancies the sea to be green fields, and desires to leap into it. '
O.
is no fear now of our losing one another. ' Each squadron of a fleet
followed the light of its Admiral. Essex speaks of having lost, or
missing, 'Sir Walter Raleigh with thirty sailes that in the night
followed his light. ' _Purchas_, xx. 24-5.
l. 18. _Feathers and dust. _ 'He esteemeth John Done the first poet in
the world for some things: his verses of the Lost Chaine he hath by
heart; and that passage of the Calme, That dust and feathers doe not
stirre, all was soe quiet. Affirmeth Donne to have written all
his best peeces ere he was twenty-five yeares old. ' _Jonson's
Conversations with Drummond. _ When Donne wrote _The Calme_ he was in
his twenty-fifth year.
l. 21. _lost friends.
_ Raleigh and his squadron lost the main fleet
while off the coast of Spain, before they set sail definitely for
the Azores. He rejoined the fleet at the Islands. Donne's poem was
probably written in the interval.
The reading of some MSS. , 'lefte friends,' is quite a possible one.
Carleton, writing from Venice to Chamberlain, says: 'Let me tell you,
for your comfort (for I imagine what is mine is yours) that my last
news from the left island . . . took knowledge of my vigilancy and
diligency. ' The 'left island' is Great Britain, and Donne may mean no
more than that 'we can neither get back to our friends nor on to our
enemies. ' There may be no allusion to Raleigh's ships.
l. 23. _the Calenture. _ 'A disease incident to sailors within the
tropics, characterized by delirium in which the patient, it is said,
fancies the sea to be green fields, and desires to leap into it. '
O.
