,
is by a Manchester manuscript (Farmer-Chetham MS.
is by a Manchester manuscript (Farmer-Chetham MS.
John Donne
'Come,
Madam, come'; some of his Paradoxes with a covering letter; other
letters which from their substance and style seem to be Donne's; and a
number of poems, including this which alone of all the doubtful poems
in the manuscript is initialled 'J. D. ' The manuscript contains work
by Donne. Does this come under that head? Only internal evidence can
decide. Of the other poems in the manuscript, most of which I print in
Appendix C, none are certainly Donne's.
'Absence heare my protestation' was printed in Donne's lifetime
in Davison's _A Poetical Rhapsody_ (1602, 1608, 1621), but with no
reference to Donne's authorship, although his name was yearly growing
a more popular hostel for wandering, unclaimed poems. [18] It was not
printed in any edition of his poems from _1633_ to _1719_. It is not
found in either of the most trustworthy manuscript collections, _D_,
_H49_, _Lec_, or _A18_, _N_, _TC_. It _is_ found in _B_, _Cy_, _L74_,
_O'F_, _P_, _S96_, but none of these can be counted an authority. In
1711 it was for the first time ascribed to Donne in _The Grove_,
a miscellaneous collection of poems, on the authority of 'an old
Manuscript of Sir John Cotton's of Stratton in Huntington-Shire'.
On the other hand, in one well authenticated manuscript, _HN_, it is
transcribed by William Drummond of Hawthornden from what he describes
as a collection of poems 'belonging to John Don' (not '_by_ Donne'),
and, with another poem, is initialled 'J. H. ' That other poem called
_His Melancholy. _
Love is a foolish melancholy, &c.
,
is by a Manchester manuscript (Farmer-Chetham MS. , ed. Grosart,
_Chetham Society Publications_, lxxxix, xc) assigned to 'Mr. Hoskins',
and in another manuscript (_A10_) it is signed 'H' with the left leg
of H so written as to suggest JH run together. Clearly at any rate
the _onus probandi_ lies with those who say the poem is by Donne.
Internally it has never seemed to me so since I came to know Donne
well. The metaphysical, subtle strain is like Donne, as it is in
_Soules Joy_, but here as there (though there is more feeling in
_Absence_, the closing line has a very Donne-like note of sudden
anguish, 'and so miss her') the tone is airier, the prosody more
tripping. The stressed syllables are less weighted emotionally and
vocally. Compare
Sweetest love, I do not goe,
For wearinesse of thee
Nor in hope the world can show
A fitter Love for me;
or
Draw not up seas to drowne me in thy spheare,
Weepe me not dead, in thine armes, but forbeare
To teach the sea, what it may doe too soone;
with the more tripping measure, in which one touches the stressed
syllables as with tiptoe, of
By absence this good means I gaine,
That I can catch her
Where none can watch her,
In some close corner of my braine.
There are more of Hoskins' poems extant, but the manuscript volume of
poems which he left behind ('bigger than those of Dr. Donne') was lost
in 1653.
Four poems were first printed as Donne's by Mr. Chambers (op. cit. ,
Appendix B). They are all found in Addl.
Madam, come'; some of his Paradoxes with a covering letter; other
letters which from their substance and style seem to be Donne's; and a
number of poems, including this which alone of all the doubtful poems
in the manuscript is initialled 'J. D. ' The manuscript contains work
by Donne. Does this come under that head? Only internal evidence can
decide. Of the other poems in the manuscript, most of which I print in
Appendix C, none are certainly Donne's.
'Absence heare my protestation' was printed in Donne's lifetime
in Davison's _A Poetical Rhapsody_ (1602, 1608, 1621), but with no
reference to Donne's authorship, although his name was yearly growing
a more popular hostel for wandering, unclaimed poems. [18] It was not
printed in any edition of his poems from _1633_ to _1719_. It is not
found in either of the most trustworthy manuscript collections, _D_,
_H49_, _Lec_, or _A18_, _N_, _TC_. It _is_ found in _B_, _Cy_, _L74_,
_O'F_, _P_, _S96_, but none of these can be counted an authority. In
1711 it was for the first time ascribed to Donne in _The Grove_,
a miscellaneous collection of poems, on the authority of 'an old
Manuscript of Sir John Cotton's of Stratton in Huntington-Shire'.
On the other hand, in one well authenticated manuscript, _HN_, it is
transcribed by William Drummond of Hawthornden from what he describes
as a collection of poems 'belonging to John Don' (not '_by_ Donne'),
and, with another poem, is initialled 'J. H. ' That other poem called
_His Melancholy. _
Love is a foolish melancholy, &c.
,
is by a Manchester manuscript (Farmer-Chetham MS. , ed. Grosart,
_Chetham Society Publications_, lxxxix, xc) assigned to 'Mr. Hoskins',
and in another manuscript (_A10_) it is signed 'H' with the left leg
of H so written as to suggest JH run together. Clearly at any rate
the _onus probandi_ lies with those who say the poem is by Donne.
Internally it has never seemed to me so since I came to know Donne
well. The metaphysical, subtle strain is like Donne, as it is in
_Soules Joy_, but here as there (though there is more feeling in
_Absence_, the closing line has a very Donne-like note of sudden
anguish, 'and so miss her') the tone is airier, the prosody more
tripping. The stressed syllables are less weighted emotionally and
vocally. Compare
Sweetest love, I do not goe,
For wearinesse of thee
Nor in hope the world can show
A fitter Love for me;
or
Draw not up seas to drowne me in thy spheare,
Weepe me not dead, in thine armes, but forbeare
To teach the sea, what it may doe too soone;
with the more tripping measure, in which one touches the stressed
syllables as with tiptoe, of
By absence this good means I gaine,
That I can catch her
Where none can watch her,
In some close corner of my braine.
There are more of Hoskins' poems extant, but the manuscript volume of
poems which he left behind ('bigger than those of Dr. Donne') was lost
in 1653.
Four poems were first printed as Donne's by Mr. Chambers (op. cit. ,
Appendix B). They are all found in Addl.
