Baroquely valedicting : Donne forbidding mourning. Date, purpose, and repurposing

• The poem known to readers since the seventeenth century as 'A valediction: forbidding mourning' is analyzed regarding, first, the transmission of the text: I show that there is a recognizably early version, close to the original written by Donne although he did not himself subsequently intervene in any significant fashion in the transmission of the poem. I then consider the dating of the poem, arguing that it was a communication to Anne before her secret marriage to Donne in 1601. I define 'Valediction' as a Baroque piece, and develop a reading with particular emphasis upon its playing with paradox. Finally, I consider its ms. transmission as an indication of its reception, and, in particular, consider Walton's purposes in presenting both an eccentric version of the text and his use of invented or re-interpreted biographical details to force his own ideological allegiances onto Donne and his poetry. This article, then, attempts to draw an arc, stretching from the initial intention that informed the composition of the poem, to its later, definitive reception within a carefully constructed web of misleading, and mainly invented, details about Donne's life which have informed criticism of Valediction (and other poems) since.

Ämnesord

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Studier av enskilda språk (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- Specific Languages (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Litteraturstudier (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- Specific Literatures (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Språk och litteratur -- Litteraturvetenskap (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Languages and Literature -- General Literary Studies (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Donne

Baroque

astronomy

compasses

Walton

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)