' 'Anima rationalis est
perfectior
quam
sensibilis, et sensibilis quam vegetabilis,' Aquinas, _Summa_, ii.
sensibilis, et sensibilis quam vegetabilis,' Aquinas, _Summa_, ii.
John Donne
_N_, _O'F_, and _TCD_ give the line
otherwise exactly as in the editions. _B_ drops the 'shine' after
'through'; and _S96_ reads:
May in you, through your face, your hearts thoughts see.
Donne has used 'through-shine' already in '_A Valediction: of my name
in the window_':
'Tis much that glasse should bee
As all confessing, and through-shine as I,
'Tis more that it shewes thee to thee,
And cleare reflects thee to thine eye.
But all such rules, loves magique can undoe,
Here you see mee, and I am you.
If there were any evidence that Donne was, as in this lyric, playing
with the idea of the identity of different souls, there would be
reason to retain the 'our hearts thoughts' of the editions; but there
is no trace of this. He is dwelling simply on the thought of the
Countess's transparency. Donne is fond of compounds with 'through'.
Other examples are 'through-light', 'through-swome', 'through-vaine',
'through-pierc'd'.
ll. 36-7. _They fly not, &c. _ Chambers and the Grolier Club editor
have here injured the sense by altering the punctuation. 'Nature's
first lesson' does not complete the previous statement about the
relation of the different souls, but qualifies 'discretion'. 'Just as
the souls of growth and sense do not claim precedence of the rational
soul, so the first lesson taught us by Nature, viz. _discretion_, must
not grudge a place to zeal.
' 'Anima rationalis est perfectior quam
sensibilis, et sensibilis quam vegetabilis,' Aquinas, _Summa_, ii. 57.
2.
PAGE =220=, l. 46. _In those poor types, &c. _ The use of the circle
as an emblem of infinity is very old. 'To the mystically inclined the
perpendicular was the emblem of unswerving rectitude and purity; but
the circle, "the foremost, richest, and most perfect of curves" was
the symbol of completeness and eternity, of the endless process of
generation and renascence in which all things are ever becoming new. '
W. B. Frankland, _The Story of Euclid_, p. 70. God was described
by St. Bonaventura as 'a circle whose centre is everywhere, whose
circumference nowhere'. See also supplementary note.
PAGE =221=.
otherwise exactly as in the editions. _B_ drops the 'shine' after
'through'; and _S96_ reads:
May in you, through your face, your hearts thoughts see.
Donne has used 'through-shine' already in '_A Valediction: of my name
in the window_':
'Tis much that glasse should bee
As all confessing, and through-shine as I,
'Tis more that it shewes thee to thee,
And cleare reflects thee to thine eye.
But all such rules, loves magique can undoe,
Here you see mee, and I am you.
If there were any evidence that Donne was, as in this lyric, playing
with the idea of the identity of different souls, there would be
reason to retain the 'our hearts thoughts' of the editions; but there
is no trace of this. He is dwelling simply on the thought of the
Countess's transparency. Donne is fond of compounds with 'through'.
Other examples are 'through-light', 'through-swome', 'through-vaine',
'through-pierc'd'.
ll. 36-7. _They fly not, &c. _ Chambers and the Grolier Club editor
have here injured the sense by altering the punctuation. 'Nature's
first lesson' does not complete the previous statement about the
relation of the different souls, but qualifies 'discretion'. 'Just as
the souls of growth and sense do not claim precedence of the rational
soul, so the first lesson taught us by Nature, viz. _discretion_, must
not grudge a place to zeal.
' 'Anima rationalis est perfectior quam
sensibilis, et sensibilis quam vegetabilis,' Aquinas, _Summa_, ii. 57.
2.
PAGE =220=, l. 46. _In those poor types, &c. _ The use of the circle
as an emblem of infinity is very old. 'To the mystically inclined the
perpendicular was the emblem of unswerving rectitude and purity; but
the circle, "the foremost, richest, and most perfect of curves" was
the symbol of completeness and eternity, of the endless process of
generation and renascence in which all things are ever becoming new. '
W. B. Frankland, _The Story of Euclid_, p. 70. God was described
by St. Bonaventura as 'a circle whose centre is everywhere, whose
circumference nowhere'. See also supplementary note.
PAGE =221=.
