John Donne's Verse Epistles

Introduction
Donne's Verse Epistles have received many critiques but also praises since the time of their
writing: the former have mostly focused on the social context of their composition, blaming them
for being more the products of the custom of advancement than proper works of literature; the latter,
instead, have stressed their labyrinthine wit and brilliant eulogies as testimonies of their
sophisticated literariness.
Many unfavourable comments may be found over the centuries: Ben Jonson himself charged
them with blasphemy
1
, and in the twentieth century Grierson argued that in their "scholastic
theology is made the instrument of courtly compliment and pious flirtation"
2
. Besides, Patricia
Thomson and John Carey fail to acknowledge a purely aesthetic import in them: the former
maintains that they are unctuous declarations of loyalty addressed to possible future patrons
3
, and
the latter affirms that they are laudatory religious poems prompted by an anxiety for patronage
4
. J.
B. Leishman's evaluation, instead, is mixed, as he traces a huge amount of Donne's "unserious wit,
or serious trifling", and believes that such baroque compliments and obscure references mostly
drawn from theology should not be considered as clues of Donne's genuine appreciation of theology
itself.
Yet his Verse Epistles have garnered also several positive interpretations. Gardner, for
instance, recognizes beauty in many of them and is amused by the dynamics of Donne's thought
5
,
while Stapleton considers them as a preparatory study for the Anniversaries
6
. On the contrary,
Milgate perceives the "sheer wit and elaborate play of mind and fancy" of the Verse Epistles's
encomiastic lines: he understands that according to Donne every trace of virtue on Earth is a clue of
the existence of God, which leads to the notion that the commendations of his patrons' and
patronesses' virtues, as profane as they may sound, contain a certain degree of sincerity. Therefore,
he holds them to be true in "an other-world", the divine world, even though he finds them "courtly"
and lacking in "solemnity"
7
. Finally, DeStefano judges them "Donne's most ambitious and
1
Even though Jonson uttered such words as regards to Donne's Anniversaries, stating that they were "profane and full
of Blasphemies", "if they had been written of ye Virgin Marie it had been something" (cit. in Stubbs, The Reformed
Soul, London, Penguin-Viking, 2006, p. 281), DeStefano goes as far as to applying it also to the Verse Epistles,
because she reckons that "Ben Jonson's charge […] continues to underlie the criticism of Donne's extravagant
complimentary verse": B. DeStefano, "Evolution and Extravagant Praise in Donne's Verse Epistles", in Studies in
Philology, (Winter, 1984), p. 75.
2
H. Grierson, Donne's Poetical Works, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1912, p. xx, cit. in DeStefano, op. cit., p. 75.
3
P. Thomson, "The Literature of Patronage 1580-1630", in Essays in Criticism, 1952, II, (3), cit. in DeStefano, op.
cit., p. 75.
4
J. Carey, John Donne: Life, Mind and Art, New York, Oxford University Press, 1981, cit. in DeStefano, op. cit., p.
75.
5
H. Gardner, "Notes on Donne's Verse Letters", in The Modern Language Review, V ol. 41, No. 3 (Jul. 1946), p. 318.
6
L. Stapleton, "The Theme of Virtue in Donne's Verse Epistles", in Studies in Philology, 55, (1958), p. 187.
7
According to Milgate, Donne's relationship with his patronesses is in no way sycophantic: he actually conjectures
that "the ingenuity and lively fancy with with he pursues the basic analogy to the remotest paradox or the most
refined abstraction, the resource of mind which summons all sorts of apparently unrelated but fascinating detail to
3
audacious religious expression" because the poet is aware that the dedicatees personify rare virtues
as a sign of their faith in God: therefore, DeStefano is deeply convinced that the celebrations of
Donne's patronesses are to be taken literally because "extravagance is the only appropriate means to
praise Christian virtue"
8
.
My analysis takes into account each of the aspects emphasized in the above-mentioned
criticism, and by doing so it seeks to carry out a poised, unbiased and multi-layered assay of
Donne's Verse Epistles, whose interest lies in both their literary and socio-historical values. This
work is divided into three chapters: in the first one I will illustrate Donne's life at the time of writing
the Verse Epistles, in the years 1608-1614; in the second one I will briefly examineate the epistolary
tradition from the ancient times to the Renaissance and Donne's approach to letter-writing; in the
third and final one I will discuss Donne's Verse Epistles to the most important noblewoman in his
life, the Countess of Bedford, and will look at them from a perspective that while being aware of
their laudatory function, throws light on other relevant issues, such as their criticism of both the
system of preferment and the patroness herself.
the imaging of thought" are the proof of the poet's sincerity. W. Milgate, "General Introduction", in J. Donne, The
Satires, Epigrams and Verse Letters, edited with introduction and commentary by W. Milgate, Oxford, Oxford
University Press, 1967, p. xxxviii-xxxix.
8
DeStefano, op. cit., pp. 76, 78.
4
Chapter 1
The 1608 - 1614 Years and Donne's Verse Epistles
"One of the most learned of living Englishman in the law, he was not a lawyer;
a profound theologian, he was not in orders;
with a throng of exalted relations and friends, he possessed no post at Court."
9
By 1608 Donne had two residences: he lived with his family
10
 in a small manor house at Mitcham
11
,
south-west of London, and lodged in the Strand where he had rented an accommodation. From
Mitcham he wrote letters to his friend, including sir Henry Goodyer (1571 – 1627) and Edward
Herbert (1583 – 1648). The former was one of the friends Donne loved the most in his life, Goodyer
was Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to James I, and exchanged letters on a weekly basis, mostly
on Tuesdays, for a long time
12
. Edward Herbert too was one of Donne's closest disciples and
friends: a metaphysical poet and a soldier like him, Edward was Mrs Magdalen Herbert's eldest son.
Donne also received notable guests like the Countess of Bedford
13
 and devoted a large amount of
time to reading and studying matters of law and theology.
These were areas of major interest for Donne: he had studied Law first at Thavies Inn and
then at Lincoln's Inn
 
and, being a Catholic in a Protestant country, he grew an interest in theological
disputations which, combined with the necessity to please and display his abilities to the King,
ultimately resulted in the writing of religious treatises, such as Pseudo-Martyr in 1610 and Ignatius
9
E. Gosse, The Life and Letters of John Donne, Dean of St. Paul. London, Heinemann, 1899. Reproduced by
BiblioLife, Charleston, 2009, vol. 1, p. 155. This is the reference text for Donne's prose letters, unless otherwise
noted.
10
At this time Donne's family consisted of his wife, Anne More, married in 1601/1602 (the precise date of the private
marriage remains unknown: D. A. Larson, "John Donne and Biographical Criticism", in South Central Review, vol.
4, no. 2 (Summer 1987), pp 94-7) and four children: Constance, John, George and Francis. J. Stubbs, op. cit., p. 212.
11
What this place meant for Donne is easily grasped in a letter to Sir Henry Goodyer, August, 10
th
, 1608, which is sent
"From my Hospital at Mitcham", and in another letter to Goodyer, written the same year but the month and the day
of writing remain obscure: "I write from the fireside in my parlour, and in the noise of three gamesome children; and
by the side of her, whom because I have transplanted into a wretched fortune, I must labour to disguise that from her
by all such honest devices, as giving her my company and discourse". Moreover, the fact that Donne's housewalls
could not keep warm must be accounted for his illnesses in the Mitcham period, which runs from 1605 to 1611. Ivi,
pp. 145-6.
12
Ivi, pp. 153-4, 190. Donne addressed two Verse Letters to Goodyer, Who makes the past, a pattern for next year
(probably before 1609) and A Letter Written by Sir H. G. And J. D., alternibus vicibus. J. Donne, Letters to Severall
Persons of Honour: Written by John Donne Sometime Deane of St Paul's, compiled by John Donne Jr., London,
1651, contained in J. Donne, The Complete English Poems, pp. 210-2: this is the reference text for Donne's Verse
Letters, unless otherwise noted.
13
Lucy Harington Russell (1580 – 1627), Countess of Bedford, owed her fortune to Queen Anne, of whom she was a
confident and by whom was appointed Lady of the Bedchamber: M. Maurer, "The Real Presence of Lucy Russell,
Countess of Bedford, and the terms of John Donne's 'Honour is so sublime perfection' ", in English Literary History,
vol. 47., no. 2 (Summer, 1980), pp. 214-5. The Countess's importance for Donne will be fully described later in this
work.
5
His Conclave the following year
14
: the line to be drawn between "interest" and "profit" is very thin
and, though we know that, at least at first, Donne focused on law and theology as interesting issues
in themselves, somehow succeeding in keeping frustration and problems away for a while at
Mitcham, in time he would discover their utility in the Church of England
15
.
Residing also in the Strand meant being as close as possible both to the wealthy and
powerful people who usually consulted him for legal advice, and to such men of wits as Ben
Jonson, whose company and friendship he felt necessary to escape from the dullness of life at
Mitcham. Donne was in desperate need for work
16
 and happiness
17
: his health was lamentable and
he could not provide his ever-growing family with the proper cares and financial safety it deserved. 
Donne's friends brought to him as much solace and relief as they could, yet Goodyer's title
(Gentleman of the Privy Chamber to James 1
st
), Sir Henry Wotton
18
's successful political and
diplomatic career abroad and Edward Herbert's honours (MP from 1604 to 1611 and Knight of
Bath) functioned as reminders of what Donne's life could have been, and was not
19
. Such accolades,
as long as they are the evidence and, most importantly, the acknowledgements of one's
achievements in life, were out of Donne's reach: his vast knowledge was not recognized by the
English university (he left Oxford between 1586 and 1587 and Cambridge in 1589
20
 to avoid taking
take the Oath of Allegiance); the military expeditions to Cadiz and to the Azores in which he
volunteered in 1596 and 1597 under the command of Robert Devereux, 2
nd
 Earl of Essex, did not
result in any royal decorations (unlike his friend and brother-in-arms John Egerton, the Lord
Keeper's son, who was knighted in 1599); his talent went unnoticed when James I ascended the
throne in 1603 and bestowed titles and honours to many people, even to some whom Donne knew
very well, but not to him.
14
A. J. Smith, "Introduction", in Donne, The Complete English Poems, cit., p. 19.
15
G. Parfitt, A literary life, London, The Macmillan Press,  1989, p. 43.
16
Since his removal from the post of Chief Private Secretary of Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, in
1602, Donne had not managed to find a suitable employment therefore he was forced to accept every assignment he
was offered: the Donnes, unfortunately, had nothing to live on except a sum of money ("£ 20 quarterly") Sir Francis
Wolley, Anne's cousin, had convinced Sir George More, Anne's father, to pay them. Gosse, op. cit., p. 208.
17
"Sir,- Every Tuesday I make account that I turn a great hour-glass, and consider that a week's life is run out since I
writ. But if I ask myself what I have done in the last watch, or would do in the next, I can say nothing; if I say that I
have passed it without hurting any, so may the spider in my window. [...] to this hour I am nothing, or so little, that I
am scarce subject and argument good enough for one of mine own letters; yet I fear, that doth not over proceed from
a good root, that I am so well content to be less, that is dead". "To Sir H. Goodyer ", September 1608: pp. 190-2.
18
Henry Wotton (1568 - 1639) was an old dear friend of Donne's, having met at Oxford between 1584 and 1585/6 : he
served as a diplomat under Essex, later worked as Ambassador in Venice and The Hague, and became an MP in the
House of Commons in 1614. Stubbs, op. cit., pp. 16, 101. Donne addresses four Verse Epistles to Wotton: To Sir
Henry Wotton: Here's no more news, than virtue; To Sir Henry Wotton: Sir, more than kisses, letters mingle Soules;
To Sir Henry Wotton, at his going Ambassator to Venice; H. W. In Hibernia Belligeranti.
19
Parfitt, op. cit., p. 48.
20
Stubbs maintains that "At some point before he was sixteen, Donne was forced to leave Oxford without taking a
degree" but a temporal inconsistency is to be found when it is explained that "The traditional account of Donne's
teenage years keeps him in England, and [...] in this version Donne moved across from Oxford to Cambridge at the
age of about fourteen". Stubbs, op. cit., pp. 21, 24. Gosse, instead, asserts that "Donne left Hart Hall and Oxford in
1586, after only six terms" and that "Donne was [...] transferred from Oxford to Cambridge, where he stayed at
Trinity for three years, that is to say, till the autumn of 1589". Gosse, op. cit., p 15; according to Parfitt, "in October
1584 John Donne, with his brother Henry, went to Hart Hall, Oxford, where he remained for about three years", but
no reference to Cambridge is made. Parfitt, op. cit., p. 2.
6
Nevertheless, he did not lack support of his friends. As a matter of fact Goodyer and Jonson
introduced Donne to the Countess of Bedford in 1608: the former was one of the Countess's
protegés at that time
21
, the latter was the poet, writer and "royal masque-maker" who tendered her a
manuscript collection of Donne's satires at her request
22
. Lady Bedford lived at Twickenham, close
to Princess Elizabeth's residence, and, most importantly, to Mitcham: the Countess and Donne
became so intimate that his fourth child was named after her and when Lucy Donne was baptized
on the 8
th
 of August 1608 the Countess was her godmother
23
. The Countess became, then, a key
figure for Donne: his patroness, one of his friends, and a versifier herself, who had a great
consideration of Donne's works, and the proof is her true interest in his Satires
24
.
In this year Donne addressed two Verse Letters to her: the first is Reason is our Soules left
hand, whose flattering but somewhat detached tone
25
 , alongside a style typical of "student of
theology and ethics" especially in the third stanza
26
 may mark it as the first letter he addressed to
her
27
. As Gosse points out, this letter is probably related to the first visit of the Countess at Mitcham
(p. 218), which may be hinted at in these lines:
[...] for you are here
The first good angel, since the world's frame stood,
That ever did in woman's shape appear.
Since you are then God's masterpiece, and so
His factor of our loves; do as you do,
Make your return home gracious; and bestow
This on that; so make one life of two.
For so God help me, I would not miss you there
For all the good which you can do me here. (ll. 30-8)
The poet is comparing the Countess to a superior being who has the divine power of
bringing happiness to people on Earth. Such a metaphor allows Donne to develop two possible
interpretations of the same concept: the first is the angelic one, according to which the Countess's
"home" (l. 35) is heaven, where she will "return" (l. 35), and where the poet will also go, provided
21
Lady Bedford was also Samuel Daniel's, John Davies's, Michael Drayton's, Ben Jonson's, George Chapman's and Sir
Thomas Roe's patroness: Maurer, op. cit., p. 207.
22
B. Jonson, Epigram XCIV: "To Lucy, Countess of Bedford, with Mr Donne's Satires", cit. in Stubbs, op. cit., p. 242.
23
Gosse, op. cit., p. 210-2.
24
Donne may have refused to hand his Satires over to the Countess, had he had any say in the matter: in a letter around
1600 to Wotton he recognizes "some feare" in this pieces of writing of his, "therefore I am desiderous to hyde them
without any over reconing of them or there maker". A. Serpieri, S. Bigliazzi, "Introduzione", in J. Donne, Poesie,
cit., p. 59.
25
J. Donne, The Satires, Epigrams and Verse Letters, edited with introduction and commentary by W. Milgate, Oxford,
Oxford University Press, 1967, p. 253.
26
M. Maurer, "John Donne's Verse Letters", Modern Language Quarterly 37 (1976), p. 289.
27
Donne, The Satires, Epigrams and Verse Letters, cit., p. 253, and J. Donne, Poesie, a cura e con traduzione di
Alessandro Serpieri e Silvia Bigliazzi, Milano, Rizzoli, 2009, p. 774.
7
that the Countess helps him become an angel like her; the second is the down-to-earth one,
according to which Lady Bedford resides at Twickenham and Donne simply bids farewell to her
while reminding her that a patron can ensure her poet's well-being in this life.
The second Verse Letter is Madam, You have refined me: here the tone is warmer than
the first one, Donne now feels so at ease with the Countess as to imagine a "pilgrimage" (l. 43) to
Twickenham to "behold / You as you are virtue's temple" (ll. 43-4). Furthermore, in the second
stanza, the poet plainly criticizes the Court for not being "vertues clime" (l. 8), which does not make
it a proper place either for the Countess, too virtuous for such a place, or for Donne himself, too
humble to show off; he suggests, however, that his "rime" (l. 9) might to facilitate the Countess's
comprehension by the Court: the Countess is portrayed as a "darke text" (l. 10) because she belongs
to the world of ideals, hence she needs Donne to work as a mediator between her virtue which
Donne can appreciate because he is virtuous too and the Court, an earthly place inhabited by
fawning people, to which Donne is accustomed. Thus, the poet offers to explain the Countess's
behaviour to the Court so that her virtue will be intelligible and nothing but favoured
28 
.
Although Donne increased the number of his influent acquaintances, this year ended
very badly for him, whose desire of obtaining a regular employment was doomed to remain
unfulfilled: having heard of the death of Sir Geoffrey Fenton, Secretary of State in Ireland, which
occurred on 19
th
 October, Donne immediately applied for the vacant post through one of his
connections, Lord James Hay. He was considered one of King James's favourites and soon appeared
as a reliable man, as an enthusiastic and hopeful Donne wrote to Goodyer in November:
In good faith he (Lord Hay) promised so roundly, so abundantly, so profusely, as I suspected
him, but performed whatever he undertook (and my requests were the measures of his
undertakings) so readily and truly, that his compliments became obligations, and having
spoke like a courtier, did like a friend. (p. 199)
Hay's efforts, unfortunately, did not suffice: the King decided to refuse the poet's
application due to what can be considered Donne's stigma, his notorious marriage, performed in
what he himself called "the worst part of my history" ("To Lord Hay", p. 201). In the two letters he
addressed to Lord Hay Donne humbly thanks him for having supported his cause and gently insists
that he continue to do so; he was already 36, without a post and outside the society he felt he
belonged, but not going to surrender.
Three months later, in February 1609, the Virginia Company established new
settlements in the colony of Virginia, which opened up to the poet the possibility of an employment
28
Aers, David and Kress, Gunther, " 'Darke Texts Needs Notes': Versions of Self in Donne's Verse Epistles", in
Literature, Language and Society in England, 1580-1680 (1980), rpt in John Donne's Poetry, ed. by Arthur L.
Clements, New York – London, 1992², p. 259.
8