John Donne: An Annotated Bibliography of Modern Criticism, 1979-1995

1995

1475. Amelinckx, Frans. “L’apport de John Donne à l’oeuvre de Suzanne Lilar,” in La Belgique telle qu’elle s’ecrit: Perspectives sur les lettres belges de langue française, ed. Renée Linkhorn, 259–69. Belgian Francophone Library, vol. 4, gen. ed. Donald Flanell Friedman. New York: Peter Lang. Discusses Suzanne Lilar’s personal affinity to Donne and her references to his poetry in her writings. Points out especially her appreciation of Donne’s attitude on love, both profane and sacred; on his mystical quest for unity; and on his complex attitude toward the human body. 1476. Anon. “John Donne,” in The Metaphysical Poets: With an Introduction and Bibliography, 9–43. Wordsworth Poetry Library. Ware: Wordsworth. Reproduces 3 Elegies, Calm, 20 poems from the Songs and Sonets, 9 of the Holy Sonnets, and 4 hymns, without notes or commentary. Includes a oneparagraph biographical sketch of Donne (119–20), noting that “he is widely regarded as the greatest of the metaphysical poets” (120). 1477. Barnaby, Andrew. “Affecting the Metaphysics: Marvell’s ‘Definition of Love’ and the Seventeenth-Century Trial of Experience.” Genre 28: 483–512. Maintains that the “Baroque fascination with the possibilities and limits of knowing haunts Donne’s great love lyrics,” citing in particular Ecst as an example. Says that the poem is “both an attempt to assign a specific meaning to love and a retrospective description of the experimental procedure designed to achieve that meaning.” Holds that the poem recounts “the procedure whereby a privately held notion is tested against the physical reality from which it claims to derive” and that “the poem’s narrative stands finally as the experimental report which others must verify in terms of their own experience” (499). Maintains that Donne’s love poems, as well as metaphysical poetry in general, “may be considered as just one among a number of generic forms marking a transitional moment in a vast project of cultural transformation,” noting that, “[i]n the constant attention they give to their own epistemological conditions , these forms are determined to address their topics not only by dissecting their component parts but also by rendering an intelligible account of the representational practices being employed in that dissection.” Compares Ecst to Marvell’s “The Definition of Love” to show that both poems examine love “as an intellectual question , a problem of knowledge, rather than as one of affectionate, playful entertainment (Dryden) or of moral sentiment (Johnson)” (500). 1478. Bauer, Matthias. “Paronomasia celata in Donne’s ‘A Valediction: forbidding mourning.’” ELR 25: 97–111. Discusses how the language of ValMourn , “by means of paronomasia, reflects and realizes its theme of unityin -separation” (97). Points out that in the poem there are “certain common sounds or letters which reveal the con1995 527 528 1995 nection between two seemingly disparate words” and that “[a] similar correspondence exists between theme and imagery.” Shows how paronomasia “serves to connect the very different and seemingly unrelated images of the poem by bringing together different but similar-sounding words” and claims that this rhetorical device “illuminates its own function as well as the subject of the poem” or, in other words, it “substantiates on the level of verba what is put forward by the conceit on the level of poetic res” (98). Points out the use of concealed paronomasia and homonymic wordplay in Donne’s title and discusses how these devices also connect the images of the poem. Maintains, therefore, that the theme of the poem, “the spiritualization of love,” is “verbally linked to the religious sphere . . . by a carefully designed pattern of Latin references” (104), homonyms, and concealed paronomasia . Suggests a possible secret allusion to Ann More in the compass image of the poem. 1479. Bawcutt, N. W., and Hilton Kelliher. “Donne through Contemporary Eyes: New Light on His Participation in the Convocation of 1626.” N&Q, n.s. 42: 441–44. Discusses new evidence that sheds ambiguous new light on Donne’s participation in the Convocation at Westminster Abbey on 8 February 1626, where he gave an oration in Latin to mark his assumption of the office of Prolocutor: (1) the Latin text of Dr. Leonard Mawe’s laudatory introduction to Donne and (2) a letter that records the reaction to Donne, Mawe, and a third speaker, Dr. Samuel Harsnett, by a contemporary eyewitness , probably John Scudamore. Believes that the praise of Donne by Mawe and Harsnett, though extravagant , “demonstrates the status and reputation he had achieved at this state in his career” and...