The use of
abstracts
as common nouns with
the article, or in the plural, is a feature of Donne's syntax.
the article, or in the plural, is a feature of Donne's syntax.
John Donne
In _O'F_ and the editions
_1635-54_ the sense is adjusted to this by reading, 'How long loves
weeds', and making the two lines an exclamation. The 'good treasure'
(l. 33) of _1635-69_, which Chambers has adopted, comes from this
source also. The reading at l. 10 is interesting; 'to use it', for 'to
us, it', has obviously arisen from 'to use and love Poetrie' of the
previous verse. In the case of 'seeme but light and thin' we have an
emendation, even in the inferior version, made for the sake of the
metre (which is why Chambers adopted it), for though _Cy_, _O'F_, and
_P_ have it, _S96_ reads:
Thoughe to use it, seeme and be light and thin.
l. 2. _a retirednesse. _ This reading of some MSS. , including _W_,
which is a very good authority for these Letters, is quite possibly
authentic. It is very like Donne to use the article; it was very easy
for a copyist to drop it. Compare the dropping of 'a' before 'span' in
_Crucifying_ (p. 320), l. 8.
The use of abstracts as common nouns with
the article, or in the plural, is a feature of Donne's syntax. He does
so in the next line: 'a chast fallownesse'. Again: 'Beloved, it is not
enough to awake out of an ill sleepe of sinne, or of ignorance, or out
of a good sleep, _out of a retirednesse_, and take some profession, if
you winke, or hide your selves, when you are awake. ' _Sermons_ 50.
11. 90. 'It is not that he shall have no adversary, nor that that
adversary shall be able to doe him no harm, but that he should have a
refreshing, a respiration, _In velamento alarum_, under the shadow
of Gods wings. ' _Sermons_ 80. 66. 670--where also we find 'an
extraordinary sadnesse, a predominant melancholy, a faintnesse of
heart, a chearlessnesse, a joylessnesse of spirit' (Ibid. 672). Donne
does not mean to say that he is 'tied to retirednesse', a recluse. The
letter was not written after he was in orders, but probably, like the
preceding, when he was at Pyrford or Mitcham (1602-8). He is tied to
a degree of retirednesse (compared with his early life) or a period of
retiredness. He does not compare himself to a Nun but to a widow.
Even a third widowhood is not necessarily a final state.
_1635-54_ the sense is adjusted to this by reading, 'How long loves
weeds', and making the two lines an exclamation. The 'good treasure'
(l. 33) of _1635-69_, which Chambers has adopted, comes from this
source also. The reading at l. 10 is interesting; 'to use it', for 'to
us, it', has obviously arisen from 'to use and love Poetrie' of the
previous verse. In the case of 'seeme but light and thin' we have an
emendation, even in the inferior version, made for the sake of the
metre (which is why Chambers adopted it), for though _Cy_, _O'F_, and
_P_ have it, _S96_ reads:
Thoughe to use it, seeme and be light and thin.
l. 2. _a retirednesse. _ This reading of some MSS. , including _W_,
which is a very good authority for these Letters, is quite possibly
authentic. It is very like Donne to use the article; it was very easy
for a copyist to drop it. Compare the dropping of 'a' before 'span' in
_Crucifying_ (p. 320), l. 8.
The use of abstracts as common nouns with
the article, or in the plural, is a feature of Donne's syntax. He does
so in the next line: 'a chast fallownesse'. Again: 'Beloved, it is not
enough to awake out of an ill sleepe of sinne, or of ignorance, or out
of a good sleep, _out of a retirednesse_, and take some profession, if
you winke, or hide your selves, when you are awake. ' _Sermons_ 50.
11. 90. 'It is not that he shall have no adversary, nor that that
adversary shall be able to doe him no harm, but that he should have a
refreshing, a respiration, _In velamento alarum_, under the shadow
of Gods wings. ' _Sermons_ 80. 66. 670--where also we find 'an
extraordinary sadnesse, a predominant melancholy, a faintnesse of
heart, a chearlessnesse, a joylessnesse of spirit' (Ibid. 672). Donne
does not mean to say that he is 'tied to retirednesse', a recluse. The
letter was not written after he was in orders, but probably, like the
preceding, when he was at Pyrford or Mitcham (1602-8). He is tied to
a degree of retirednesse (compared with his early life) or a period of
retiredness. He does not compare himself to a Nun but to a widow.
Even a third widowhood is not necessarily a final state.
