AN ANATOMIE OF THE WORLD.
The Anatomie of the World and Of The Progresse of the Soule were the first poems published in Donne's lifetime. The former was issued in 1611. It is exceedingly rare. The copy preserved in Lord Ellesmere's library at Bridgewater House is a small octavo volume of 26 pages (Praise of the Dead, &c. 3 pp., Anatomy 19 pp., and Funerall Elegie 4 pp., all unnumbered), with title-page as given on the page opposite.
In 1612 the poem was reissued along with the Second Anniversary. A copy of this rare volume was sold at the Huth sale on the thirteenth of June this year. With the kind permission of Mr. Edward Huth and Messrs. Sotheby, Mr. Godfrey Keynes made a careful collation for me, the results of which are embodied in my notes. The separate title-pages of the two poems which the volume contains are here reproduced.
Mr. Keynes supplies the following description of the volume: A first title, A-A4 To the praise of the Dead (in italics), A5-D2 (pp. 1-44) The First Anniversary (in roman), D3-D7 (pp. 45-54) A funerall Elegie (in italics), D8 blank except for rules in margins; E1 second title, E2-E4 recto The Harbinger (in italics), E4 verso blank, E5-H5 recto (pp. 1-49) The Second Anniversarie (in roman), H5 verso—H6 blank except for rules in margins. A fresh title-page introduces the second poem.
In 1611 the introductory verses entitled To the praise of the Dead, and the Anatomy, and the Anatomy itself, are printed in italic, A Funerall Elegie following in roman type. This latter arrangement was reversed in 1612. In the second part, only the poem entitled The Harbinger to the Progresse is printed throughout in italic. Donne's own poem is in roman type.
The reason of the variety of arrangement is, I suppose, this: The Funerall Elegie was probably, as Chambers suggests, the first part of the poem, composed probably in 1610. When it was published in 1611 with the Anatomie, the latter was regarded as introductory and subordinate to the Elegie, and accordingly was printed in italic. Later, when the idea of the Anniversary poems emerged, and Of The Progresse of the Soule was written as a complement to An Anatomy of the World, these became the prominent parts of the whole work in honour of Elizabeth Drury, and the Funerall Elegie fell into the subordinate position.
The edition of 1612 does not strike one as a very careful piece of printing. It was probably printed while Donne was on the Continent. It supplies only two certain emendations of the later text.
The reprints of this volume made in 1621 and 1625 show increasing carelessness. They were issued after Donne took orders and probably without his sanction. The title-pages of the editions are here reproduced.
AN
ANATOMY
of the World.
WHEREIN,
BY OCCASION OF
the vntimely death of Mistris
Elizabeth Drvry
the frailty and the decay
of this whole world
is represented.
LONDON,
Printed for Samuel Macham.
and are to be solde at his shop in
Paules Church-yard, at the
signe of the Bul-head.
An. Dom.
1611.
![[Title Page]](#2108459034779648318_i_p179-310.png.id-3127326908987698523.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
The First Anniuersarie.
AN
ANATOMY
of the VVorld.
Wherein,
By Occasion Of
the vntimely death of Mistris
Elizabeth Drvry
the frailtie and the decay
of this whole world
is represented.
LONDON,
Printed by M. Bradwood for S. Macham, and are
to be sold at his shop in Pauls Church-yard at the
signe of the Bull-head. 1612.
![[Title Page]](#2108459034779648318_i_p180-320.png.id-703680431029553307.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
The Second Anniuersarie.
OF
THE PROGRES
of the Soule.
Wherein:
By Occasion Of The
Religious death of Mistris
Elizabeth Drvry
the incommodities of the Soule
in this life and her exaltation in
the next, are Contem-
plated.
London,
Printed by M. Bradwood for S. Macham, and are
to be sould at his shop in Pauls Church-yard at
the signe of the Bull-head.
1612.
![[Title Page]](#2108459034779648318_i_p181-340.png.id-4938866909808548411.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
The above title is not an exact facsimile.
The First Anniuersarie.
AN
ANATOMY
of the World.
Wherein,
By Occasion Of
the vntimely death of Mistris
Elizabeth Drvry
the frailtie and the decay
of this whole world
is represented.
London,
Printed by A. Mathewes for Tho: Dewe, and are
to be sold at his shop in Saint Dunstons Church-yard in
Fleetestreete. 1621.
![[Title Page]](#2108459034779648318_i_p182-310.png.id-6220095020928866892.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
The second Anniuersarie.
OF
THE PROGRES
of the Soule.
Wherein,
By Occasion Of
the Religious death of Mistris
Elizabeth Drvry
the incommodities of the Soule
in this life and her exaltation in
the next, are Contem-
plated.
London,
Printed by A. Mathewes for Tho: Dewe, and are
to be sold at his shop in Saint Dunstons Church-yard
in Fleetestreete. 1621.
![[Title Page]](#2108459034779648318_i_p183-325.png.id-7453933342339874240.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
AN
ANATOMY
OF THE
World.
Wherein,
By Occasion Of the vn-
timely death of Mistris
Elizabeth Drvry
the frailtie and the decay
of this whole world is
represented.
The first Anniuersarie.
London
Printed by W. Stansby for Tho. Dewe,
and are to be sold in S. Dunstanes
Church-yard. 1625
![[Title Page]](#2108459034779648318_i_p184-345.png.id-6406616746786381402.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
OF
THE PROGRES
of the
SOVLE
Wherein,
By Occasion Of The Re-
ligious death of Mistris
Elizabeth Drvry
the incommodities of the Soule in
this life, and her exaltation in the
next, are Contemplated.
The Second Anniuersarie.
LONDON
Printed by W. Stansby for Tho. Dewe,
and are to be sold in S. Dunstanes
Church-yard. 1625.
![[Title Page]](#2108459034779648318_i_p185-350.png.id-2036785974598783841.wrap-0.html.html){kind=link}
The symbolic figures in the title-pages of 1625 probably represent the seven Liberal Arts. A feature of the editions of 1611, 1612, and 1625 is the marginal notes. These are reproduced in 1633, but a little carelessly, for some copies do not contain them all. They are omitted in the subsequent editions.
The text of the Anniversaries in 1633 has been on the whole carefully edited. It is probable, judging from several small circumstances (e.g. the omission of the first marginal note even in copies where all the rest are given), that 1633 was printed from 1625, but it is clear that the editor compared this with earlier editions, probably those of 1611-12, and corrected or amended the punctuation throughout. My collation of 1633 with 1611 has throughout vindicated the former as against 1621-5 on the one hand and the later editions on the other.[1] Of mistakes other than of punctuation I have noted only three: l. 181, thoughts 1611-12; thought 1621-33. This was corrected, from the obvious sense, in later editions (1635-69), and Grosart, Chambers, and Grolier make no note of the error in 1621-33. l. 318, proportions 1611-12; proportion 1621 and all subsequent editions without comment. l. 415, Impressions 1611; Impression 1612-25: impression 1633 and all subsequent editions. All three cases are examples of the same error, the dropping of final 's'.
In typographical respects 1611 shows the hand of the author more clearly than the later editions. Donne was fastidious in matters of punctuation and the use of italics and capital letters, witness the LXXX Sermons (1640), printed from MSS. prepared for the press by the author. But the printer had to be reckoned with, and perfection was not obtainable. In a note to one of the separately published sermons Donne says: 'Those Errors which are committed in mispointing, or in changing the form of the Character, will soone be discernd, and corrected by the Eye of any deliberate Reader'. The 1611 text shows a more consistent use in certain passages of emphasizing capitals, and at places its punctuation is better than that of 1633. My text reproduces 1633, corrected where necessary from the earlier editions; and I have occasionally followed the typography of 1611. But every case in which 1633 is modified is recorded.
Of the Second Anniversarie, in like manner, my text is that of 1633, corrected in a few details, and with a few typographical features borrowed, from the edition of 1612. The editor of 1633 had rather definite views of his own on punctuation, notably a predilection for semicolons in place of full stops. The only certain emendations which 1612 supplies are in the marginal note at p. 234 and in l. 421 of the Second Anniversarie 'this' for 'his'. The spelling is less ambiguous in ll. 27 and 326.
[1] 1621-25 abound in misplaced full stops which are not in 1611 and are generally corrected in 1633. The punctuation of the later editions (1635-69) is the work of the printer. Occasionally a comma is dropped or introduced with advantage to the sense, but in general the punctuation grows increasingly careless. Often the correction of one error leads to another.
The subject of the Anniversaries was the fifteen-year-old Elizabeth Drury, who died in 1610. Her father, Sir Robert Drury, of Hawsted in the county of Suffolk, was a man of some note on account of his great wealth. He was knighted by Essex when about seventeen years old, at the siege of Rouen (1591-2). He served in the Low Countries, and at the battle of Nieuport (1600) brought off Sir Francis Vere when his horse was shot under him. He was courtier, traveller, member of Parliament, and in 1613 would have been glad to go as Ambassador to Paris when Sir Thomas Overbury refused the proffered honour and was sent to the Tower. Lady Drury was the daughter of Sir Nicholas Bacon, the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth's Lord Keeper. She and her brother, Sir Edmund Bacon, were friends and patrons of Joseph Hall, Donne's rival as an early satirist. From 1600 to 1608 Hall was rector of Hawsted, and though he was not very kindly treated by Sir Robert he dedicated to him his Meditations Morall and Divine. This tie explains the fact, which we learn from Jonson's conversations with Drummond, that Hall is the author of the Harbinger to the Progresse. As he wrote this we may infer that he is also responsible for To the praise of the dead, and the Anatomie.
Readers of Donne's Life by Walton are aware of the munificence with which Sir Robert rewarded Donne for his poems, how he opened his house to him, and took him abroad. Donne's letters, on the other hand, reveal that the poem gave considerable offence to the Countess of Bedford and other older patrons and friends. In his letters to Gerrard he endeavoured to explain away his eulogies. In verse-letters to the Countess of Bedford and others he atoned for his inconstancy by subtle and erudite compliments.
The Funerall Elegie was doubtless written in 1610 and sent to Sir Robert Drury. He and Donne may already have been acquainted through Wotton, who was closely related by friendship and marriage with Sir Edmund Bacon. (See Pearsall Smith, Life and Letters of Sir Henry Wotton (1907). The Anatomie of the World was composed in 1611, Of the Progresse of the Soule in France in 1612, at some time prior to the 14th of April, when he refers to his Anniversaries in a letter to George Gerrard.
Ben Jonson declared to Drummond 'That Donnes Anniversaries were profane and full of blasphemies: that he told Mr. Done if it had been written of the Virgin Marie it had been something; to which he answered that he described the Idea of a Woman, and not as she was'. This is a better defence of Donne's poems than any which he advances in his letters, but it is not a complete description of his work. Rather, he interwove with a rapt and extravagantly conceited laudation of an ideal woman two topics familiar to his catholic and mediaeval learning, and developed each in a characteristically subtle and ingenious strain, a strain whose occasional sceptical, disintegrating reflections belong as obviously to the seventeenth century as the general content of the thought is mediaeval.
The burden of the whole is an impassioned and exalted meditatio mortis based on two themes common enough in mediaeval devotional literature—a De Contemptu Mundi, and a contemplation of the Glories of Paradise. A very brief analysis of the two poems, omitting the laudatory portions, may help a reader who cannot at once see the wood for the trees, and be better than detailed notes.
The Anatomie of the World.
l. 1. The world which suffered in her death is now fallen into the worse lethargy of oblivion. l. 60. I will anatomize the world for the benefit of those who still, by the influence of her virtue, lead a kind of glimmering life. l. 91. There is no health in the world. We are still under the curse of woman. l. 111. How short is our life compared with that of the patriarchs! l. 134. How small is our stature compared with that of the giants of old! l. 147. How shrunken of soul we are, especially since her death! l. 191. And as man, so is the whole world. The new learning or philosophy has shattered in fragments that complete scheme of the universe in which we rested so confidently, and (l. 211) in human society the same disorder prevails. l. 250. There is no beauty in the world, for, first, the beauty of proportion is lost, alike in the movements of the heavenly bodies, and (l. 285) in the earth with its mountains and hollows, and (l. 302) in the administration of justice in society. l. 339. So is Beauty's other element, Colour and Lustre. l. 377. Heaven and earth are at variance. We can no longer read terrestrial fortunes in the stars. But (l. 435) an Anatomy can be pushed too far.
The Progresse of the Soule.
l. 1. The world's life is the life that breeds in corruption. Let me, forgetting the rotten world, meditate on death. l. 85. Think, my soul, that thou art on thy death-bed, and consider death a release. l. 157. Think how the body poisoned the soul, tainting it with original sin. Set free, thou art in Heaven in a moment. l. 250. Here all our knowledge is ignorance. The new learning has thrown all in doubt. We sweat to learn trifles. In Heaven we know all we need to know. l. 321. Here, our converse is evil and corrupting. There our converse will be with Mary; the Patriarchs; Apostles, Martyrs and Virgins (compare A Litany). Here in the perpetual flux of things is no essential joy. Essential joy is to see God. And even the accidental joys of heaven surpass the essential joys of earth, were there such joys here where all is casual:
Only in Heaven joys strength is never spent,
And accidental things are permanent.
One of the most interesting strands of thought common to the twin poems is the reflection on the disintegrating effect of the New Learning. Copernicus' displacement of the earth, and the consequent disturbance of the accepted mediaeval cosmology with its concentric arrangement of elements and heavenly bodies, arrests and disturbs Donne's imagination much as the later geology with its revelation of vanished species and first suggestion of a doctrine of evolution absorbed and perturbed Tennyson when he wrote In Memoriam and throughout his life. No other poet of the seventeenth century known to me shows the same sensitiveness to the consequences of the new discoveries of traveller, astronomer, physiologist and physician as Donne.