Opening the text

The Poems of John Donne, Volume 2 (of 2): Edited from the Old Editions and Numerous ManuscriptsDonne, John

General

The Poems of John Donne, Volume 2 (of 2): Edited from the Old Editions and Numerous Manuscripts

Name: The Poems of John Donne, Volume 2 (of 2): Edited from the Old Editions and Numerous Manuscripts
Author: Donne, John

Donne, John

English poetry -- Early modern, 1500-1700

First you see fixt in this huge mirrour blew,
  Of trembling lights, a number numberlesse:
  Fixt they are nam'd, but with a name untrue,
  For they all moove and in a Daunce expresse
  That great long yeare, that doth contain no lesse
    Then threescore hundreds of those yeares in all,
    Which the sunne makes with his course naturall.

  What if to you those sparks disordered seem
  As if by chaunce they had beene scattered there?
  The gods a solemne measure doe it deeme,
  And see a iust proportion every where,
  And know the points whence first their movings were;
    To which first points when all returne againe,
    The axel-tree of Heav'n shall breake in twain.
                             Sir John Davies, _Orchestra_, 35-6.

l. 16. _Those things which elemented it._ Chambers follows _1669_ and
reads 'The thing'--wrongly, I think. 'Elemented' is just 'composed',
and the things are enumerated later, 20. 'eyes, lips, hands.' Compare:

  But neither chance nor compliment
    Did element our love.
        Katharine Phillips (Orinda), _To Mrs. M. A. at parting_.

This and the fellow poem _Upon Absence_ may be compared with Donne's
poems on the same theme. See Saintsbury's _Caroline Poets_, i, pp.
548, 550.

l. 20. _and hands_: 'and' has the support of _all_ the MSS. The want
of it is no great loss, for though without it the line moves a little
irregularly, 'and hands' is not a pleasant concatenation.

ll. 25-36. _If they be two, &c._ Donne's famous simile has a close
parallel in Omar Khayyam. Whether Donne's 'hydroptic immoderate thirst
of humane learning and languages' extended to Persian I do not know.
Captain Harris has supplied me with translations and reference:

  In these twin compasses, O Love, you see
  One body with two heads, like you and me,
    Which wander round one centre, circle wise,
  But at the last in one same point agree.
            Whinfield's edition of _Omar Khayyam_ (Kegan Paul,
                   Trübner, 1901, Oriental Series, p. 216).

'Oh my soul, you and I are like a compass. We form but one body having
two points. Truly one point moves from the other point, and makes the
round of the circle; but the day draws near when the two points must
re-unite.' J. H. M^{c}Carthy (D. Nutt, 1898).


PAGE =51=. THE EXTASIE.

This is one of the most important of the lyrics as a statement
of Donne's metaphysic of love, of the interconnexion and mutual
dependence of body and soul. It is printed in _1633_ from _D_, _H49_,
_Lec_ or a MS. resembling it, and from this and the other MSS. I
have introduced some alterations in the text: and two rather vital
emendations, ll. 55 and 59. _The Extasie_ is probably the source of
Lord Herbert of Cherbury's best known poem, _An Ode Upon a Question
Moved Whether Love Should Continue For Ever_. Compare with the opening
lines of Donne's poem:

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

Opening the text

The Poems of John Donne, Volume 2 (of 2): Edited from the Old Editions and Numerous ManuscriptsDonne, John

General

The Poems of John Donne, Volume 2 (of 2): Edited from the Old Editions and Numerous Manuscripts

Donne, John

English poetry -- Early modern, 1500-1700

First you see fixt in this huge mirrour blew,
  Of trembling lights, a number numberlesse:
  Fixt they are nam'd, but with a name untrue,
  For they all moove and in a Daunce expresse
  That great long yeare, that doth contain no lesse
    Then threescore hundreds of those yeares in all,
    Which the sunne makes with his course naturall.

  What if to you those sparks disordered seem
  As if by chaunce they had beene scattered there?
  The gods a solemne measure doe it deeme,
  And see a iust proportion every where,
  And know the points whence first their movings were;
    To which first points when all returne againe,
    The axel-tree of Heav'n shall breake in twain.
                             Sir John Davies, _Orchestra_, 35-6.

l. 16. _Those things which elemented it._ Chambers follows _1669_ and
reads 'The thing'--wrongly, I think. 'Elemented' is just 'composed',
and the things are enumerated later, 20. 'eyes, lips, hands.' Compare:

  But neither chance nor compliment
    Did element our love.
        Katharine Phillips (Orinda), _To Mrs. M. A. at parting_.

This and the fellow poem _Upon Absence_ may be compared with Donne's
poems on the same theme. See Saintsbury's _Caroline Poets_, i, pp.
548, 550.

l. 20. _and hands_: 'and' has the support of _all_ the MSS. The want
of it is no great loss, for though without it the line moves a little
irregularly, 'and hands' is not a pleasant concatenation.

ll. 25-36. _If they be two, &c._ Donne's famous simile has a close
parallel in Omar Khayyam. Whether Donne's 'hydroptic immoderate thirst
of humane learning and languages' extended to Persian I do not know.
Captain Harris has supplied me with translations and reference:

  In these twin compasses, O Love, you see
  One body with two heads, like you and me,
    Which wander round one centre, circle wise,
  But at the last in one same point agree.
            Whinfield's edition of _Omar Khayyam_ (Kegan Paul,
                   Trübner, 1901, Oriental Series, p. 216).

'Oh my soul, you and I are like a compass. We form but one body having
two points. Truly one point moves from the other point, and makes the
round of the circle; but the day draws near when the two points must
re-unite.' J. H. M^{c}Carthy (D. Nutt, 1898).


PAGE =51=. THE EXTASIE.

This is one of the most important of the lyrics as a statement
of Donne's metaphysic of love, of the interconnexion and mutual
dependence of body and soul. It is printed in _1633_ from _D_, _H49_,
_Lec_ or a MS. resembling it, and from this and the other MSS. I
have introduced some alterations in the text: and two rather vital
emendations, ll. 55 and 59. _The Extasie_ is probably the source of
Lord Herbert of Cherbury's best known poem, _An Ode Upon a Question
Moved Whether Love Should Continue For Ever_. Compare with the opening
lines of Donne's poem:

Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.

The Poems of John Donne, Volume 2 (of 2): Edited from the Old Editions and Numerous Manuscripts

The Poems of John Donne, Volume 2 (of 2): Edited from the Old Editions and Numerous Manuscripts

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