Jonson told
Drummond
'That Done
said to him, he wrott that Epitaph on Prince Henry _Look to me, Faith_
to match Sir Ed: Herbert in obscurenesse' (Drummond's _Conversations_,
ed.
said to him, he wrott that Epitaph on Prince Henry _Look to me, Faith_
to match Sir Ed: Herbert in obscurenesse' (Drummond's _Conversations_,
ed.
John Donne
By Joshua Sylvester.
The Third
Edition, with Additions of His Owne and Elegies. 1613. Printed by
Humphrey Lownes. ' Sylvester's own poem is followed by poems in Latin,
Italian, and English by Joseph Hall and others, and then by a
separate title-page: _Sundry Funerall Elegies . . . Composed by severall
Authors_. The authors are G. G. (probably George Gerrard), Sir P. O. ,
Mr. Holland, Mr. Donne, Sir William Cornwallis, Sir Edward Herbert,
Sir Henry Goodyere, and Henry Burton.
Jonson told Drummond 'That Done
said to him, he wrott that Epitaph on Prince Henry _Look to me, Faith_
to match Sir Ed: Herbert in obscurenesse' (Drummond's _Conversations_,
ed. Laing). Donne's elegy was printed with some carelessness in
the _Lachrymae Lachrymarum_. The editor of _1633_ has improved the
punctuation in places.
The obscurity of the poem is not so obvious as its tasteless
extravagance: 'The death of Prince Henry has shaken in me both Faith
and Reason, concentric circles or nearly so (l. 18), for Faith does
not contradict Reason but transcend it. ' See _Sermons_ 50. 36.
'Our Faith is shaken because, contemplating his greatnesse and its
influence on other nations, we believed that with him was to begin the
age of peace:
Ultima Cumaei venit iam carminis aetas,
Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo.
But by his death this faith becomes heresy. Reason is shaken because
reason passes from cause to effect. Miracle interrupts this progress,
and the loss of him is such a miracle as brings all our argument to
a standstill. We can predict nothing with confidence. ' In his
over-subtle, extravagant way Donne describes the shattering of men's
hopes and expectations.
At the end he turns to her whom the Prince loved,
The she-Intelligence which mov'd this sphere.
Could he but tell who she was he would be as blissful in singing her
praises as they were in one another's love.
Edition, with Additions of His Owne and Elegies. 1613. Printed by
Humphrey Lownes. ' Sylvester's own poem is followed by poems in Latin,
Italian, and English by Joseph Hall and others, and then by a
separate title-page: _Sundry Funerall Elegies . . . Composed by severall
Authors_. The authors are G. G. (probably George Gerrard), Sir P. O. ,
Mr. Holland, Mr. Donne, Sir William Cornwallis, Sir Edward Herbert,
Sir Henry Goodyere, and Henry Burton.
Jonson told Drummond 'That Done
said to him, he wrott that Epitaph on Prince Henry _Look to me, Faith_
to match Sir Ed: Herbert in obscurenesse' (Drummond's _Conversations_,
ed. Laing). Donne's elegy was printed with some carelessness in
the _Lachrymae Lachrymarum_. The editor of _1633_ has improved the
punctuation in places.
The obscurity of the poem is not so obvious as its tasteless
extravagance: 'The death of Prince Henry has shaken in me both Faith
and Reason, concentric circles or nearly so (l. 18), for Faith does
not contradict Reason but transcend it. ' See _Sermons_ 50. 36.
'Our Faith is shaken because, contemplating his greatnesse and its
influence on other nations, we believed that with him was to begin the
age of peace:
Ultima Cumaei venit iam carminis aetas,
Magnus ab integro saeclorum nascitur ordo.
But by his death this faith becomes heresy. Reason is shaken because
reason passes from cause to effect. Miracle interrupts this progress,
and the loss of him is such a miracle as brings all our argument to
a standstill. We can predict nothing with confidence. ' In his
over-subtle, extravagant way Donne describes the shattering of men's
hopes and expectations.
At the end he turns to her whom the Prince loved,
The she-Intelligence which mov'd this sphere.
Could he but tell who she was he would be as blissful in singing her
praises as they were in one another's love.
