In the 1633 edition the last
five lines of this stanza have no stronger stop than a comma.
five lines of this stanza have no stronger stop than a comma.
John Donne
Both the change and the suggestion imply some misapprehension
of the reference of these lines, which is to the preceding verse:
For our ease, give thine eyes th'unusual part
Of joy, a Teare.
The opening of a stanza with two lines which in thought belong to the
previous one is not unprecedented in Donne's poems. Compare the sixth
stanza of _A Valediction: of my name in the window_, and note.
Dryden has borrowed this image--like many another of Donne's:
Muse down again precipitate thy flight;
For how can mortal eyes sustain immortal light?
But as the sun in water we can bear,
Yet not the sun, but his reflection there,
So let us view her here in what she was,
And take her image in this watery glass.
_Eleonora_, ll. 134-9.
l. 156. _as their spheares are. _ The crystalline sphere in which each
planet is fixed.
PAGE =138=, ll. 171-81. _The Benediction. _ The accurate punctuation
of Donne's poetry is not an easy matter.
In the 1633 edition the last
five lines of this stanza have no stronger stop than a comma. This may
be quite right, but it leaves ambiguous what is the exact force and
what the connexion of the line--
Nature and grace doe all, and nothing Art.
The editions of 1635-69, by placing a full stop after 'give' (l. 178),
connect 'Nature and grace' with what follows, and Chambers and the
Grolier Club editor have accepted this, though they place a semicolon
after 'Art'. It seems to me that the line must go with what precedes.
The force of 'may' is carried on to 'doe all':
may here, to the worlds end, live
Heires from this King, to take thanks, you, to give,
Nature and grace doe all and nothing Art.
'May there always be heirs of James to receive thanks, of you two to
give; and may this mutual relation owe everything to nature and grace,
the goodness of your descendants, the grace of the king, nothing to
art, to policy and flattery. ' That is the only meaning I can give to
the line. The only change in _1633_ is that of a comma to a full stop,
a big change in value, a small one typographically.
PAGE =139=, l. 200. _they doe not set so too_; I have changed the full
stop after 'too' to a semicolon, as the 'Therefore thou maist' which
follows is an immediate inference from these two lines. 'You rose at
the same hour this morning, but you (the bride) must go first to bed. '
ll. 204-5. _As he that sees, &c.
of the reference of these lines, which is to the preceding verse:
For our ease, give thine eyes th'unusual part
Of joy, a Teare.
The opening of a stanza with two lines which in thought belong to the
previous one is not unprecedented in Donne's poems. Compare the sixth
stanza of _A Valediction: of my name in the window_, and note.
Dryden has borrowed this image--like many another of Donne's:
Muse down again precipitate thy flight;
For how can mortal eyes sustain immortal light?
But as the sun in water we can bear,
Yet not the sun, but his reflection there,
So let us view her here in what she was,
And take her image in this watery glass.
_Eleonora_, ll. 134-9.
l. 156. _as their spheares are. _ The crystalline sphere in which each
planet is fixed.
PAGE =138=, ll. 171-81. _The Benediction. _ The accurate punctuation
of Donne's poetry is not an easy matter.
In the 1633 edition the last
five lines of this stanza have no stronger stop than a comma. This may
be quite right, but it leaves ambiguous what is the exact force and
what the connexion of the line--
Nature and grace doe all, and nothing Art.
The editions of 1635-69, by placing a full stop after 'give' (l. 178),
connect 'Nature and grace' with what follows, and Chambers and the
Grolier Club editor have accepted this, though they place a semicolon
after 'Art'. It seems to me that the line must go with what precedes.
The force of 'may' is carried on to 'doe all':
may here, to the worlds end, live
Heires from this King, to take thanks, you, to give,
Nature and grace doe all and nothing Art.
'May there always be heirs of James to receive thanks, of you two to
give; and may this mutual relation owe everything to nature and grace,
the goodness of your descendants, the grace of the king, nothing to
art, to policy and flattery. ' That is the only meaning I can give to
the line. The only change in _1633_ is that of a comma to a full stop,
a big change in value, a small one typographically.
PAGE =139=, l. 200. _they doe not set so too_; I have changed the full
stop after 'too' to a semicolon, as the 'Therefore thou maist' which
follows is an immediate inference from these two lines. 'You rose at
the same hour this morning, but you (the bride) must go first to bed. '
ll. 204-5. _As he that sees, &c.
