The Variorum Edition of the Poetry of John Donne, Volume 7, Part 1: The Holy Sonnets

HSRound

~ HSRound COMMENTARY General Commentary Richards (1929, 4, 42-5°, 365) includes the responses to HSRound of a number of readers who commented upon it without knowing its title or author. Richards identifies the majority of them as "undergraduates reading English with a view to an Honours Degree," though some were reading in other subjects and there was a "sprin... kling" of non...academics (4). Richards, in classifying responses, characterizes them as the consequence of "doctrinal grudge" (44), "anti...religious prejudice" (45), "moral objection to the poet's attitude" (45), "ignorance of Christian cosmology" (47), "in... experience" or "lack of familiarity" with even "simple verse movements" (49), and "frustrated visualization" (49). In reporting the relative popularity of the thirteen anonymous poems examined, Richards lists the responses to HSRound as 30 "favourable" (11th of 13),42 "unfavourable" (tie for 5th of 13), and 28 "non...com... mitted" (13th of 13) (365). Eliot (1930, 552-53) distinguishes between religious and devotional poetry, the former arising from a religious feeling, the latter from something connected with revealed religion; and he quotes HSRound in full as an example of Donne's best "re... ligious poetry." Bush (1945, 134) cites the poem as an example of Donne's "medieval learning." Brooke (1948,635) says of HSRound that it "rises easily above all the rest" of the Holy Sonnets. Turnell (1950, 273) identifies HSRound as one of Donne's "greatest poems and one of the greatest sonnets in the language." Gransden (1954, 135) cites HSRound as a "fine example" of Donne's use of "tra... ditional medieval material." Sanders (1971, 132) says that HSRound does not offer much for our understand... ing of what it means to "behold God." Bellette (1975, 334-41) writes that the idea of Christ on the cross affects the form of HSMade, HSScene and HSRound, and notes that these three sonnets may be read as forming a sequence "depicting ... the transition from this world to the next" (334). See fuller commentary under HSMade: General Commentary. Skelton (1978, 67-68), writing about the relationship between a poet's beliefs and those of his readers, observes that in a poem like HSRound it is important for a reader to know about the intense feelings involved in the Last Judgment, not necessarily to endorse those beliefs but to appreciate the anguish of the ~ HSRound COMMENTARY General Commentary Richards (1929, 4, 42-5°, 365) includes the responses to HSRound of a number of readers who commented upon it without knowing its title or author. Richards identifies the majority of them as "undergraduates reading English with a view to an Honours Degree," though some were reading in other subjects and there was a "sprinkling " of non-academics (4). Richards, in classifying responses, characterizes them as the consequence of "doctrinal grudge" (44), "anti-religious prejudice" (45), "moral objection to the poet's attitude" (45), "ignorance of Christian cosmology" (47), "inexperience " or "lack of familiarity" with even "simple verse movements" (49), and "frustrated visualization" (49). In reporting the relative popularity of the thirteen anonymous poems examined, Richards lists the responses to HSRound as 30 "favourable" (lIth of 13),42 "unfavourable" (tie for 5th of 13), and 28 "non-committed " (13th of 13) (365). Eliot (1930, 552-53) distinguishes between religious and devotional poetry, the former arising from a religious feeling, the latter from something connected with revealed religion; and he quotes HSRound in full as an example of Donne's best "religious poetry." Bush (1945, 134) cites the poem as an example of Donne's "medieval learning." Brooke (1948, 635) says of HSRound that it "rises easily above all the rest" of the Holy Sonnets. Turnell (1950, 273) identifies HSRound as one of Donne's "greatest poems and one of the greatest sonnets in the language." Gransden (1954,135) cites HSRound as a "fine example" of Donne's use of "traditional medieval material." Sanders (197 I, 132) says that HSRound does not offer much for our understanding of what it means to "behold God." Bellette (1975, 334-4I) writes that the idea of Christ on the cross affects the form of HSMade, HSScene and HSRound, and notes that these three sonnets may be read as forming a sequence "depicting ... the transition from this world to the next" (334). See fuller commentary under HSMade: General Commentary. Skelton (1978, 67-68), writing about the relationship between a poet's beliefs and those of his readers, observes that in a poem like HSRound it is important for a reader to know about...