In a full analysis that I have made of Donne's syntax in
the poems I have found over ninety examples of the subjunctive against
seven of the indicative in concessive adverbial clauses.
the poems I have found over ninety examples of the subjunctive against
seven of the indicative in concessive adverbial clauses.
John Donne
Shakespeare, _Lucrece_, 540-1.
The eye of the man who comes to kill a cockatrice stares with terror
lest he be stricken himself.
If 'glazed' meant 'covered with a film', an adverbial complement would
be needed:
For sorrow's eye, glazed with blinding tears.
Shakespeare, _Rich. II_, II. ii. 16.
ll. 9, 15. _have . . . take. _ I have noted the subjunctive forms
found in certain MSS. , because this is undoubtedly Donne's usual
construction.
In a full analysis that I have made of Donne's syntax in
the poems I have found over ninety examples of the subjunctive against
seven of the indicative in concessive adverbial clauses. In these
ninety are many where the concession is an admitted fact, e. g.
Though her eyes be small, her mouth is great.
_Elegie II_, 3 ff.
Though poetry indeed be such a sin.
_Satire II_, 5.
Of the seven, two are these doubtful examples here noted; one, where
the subjunctive would be more appropriate, is due to the rhyme.
ll. 10-11. _Thy beauties beautie, and food of our love,
Hope of his goods. _
Grosart is puzzled by this phrase and explains 'beauties beautie' as
'the beauty of thy various beauties' (face, arms, shape, &c. ). I fear
that Donne means that the beauty which he most loves in his mistress
is her hope or prospect of obtaining her father's goods. The whole
poem is in a vein of extravagant and cynical wit. It must not be taken
too seriously.
