The punctuation of this poem repays careful study. The whole is a fine example of that periodic style, drawn out from line to line, and forming sonorous and impressive verse-paragraphs, in which Donne more than any other poet anticipated Milton. The first sentence closes only at the thirty-sixth line. The various clauses which lead up to the close are separated from one another by the full-stop (ll. 8, 24), the colon (ll. 2, 7 (sonnets:), 34), and the semicolon (ll. 18, 21, 30 where the old edition had a colon), all with distinct values. The only change I have made (and recorded) is at l. 30 (fantasticall), where a careful consideration of the punctuation throughout shows that a semicolon is more appropriate than a colon. The clause which begins with 'Since' in l. 25 does not close till l. 34, 'understood'.
In the rest of the poem the punctuation is also careful. The only changes I have made are—ll. 42 'that day;' and 46 'yesterday;' (a semi-colon for a colon in each case), 61 'mee:' (a colon for a full stop), and 63 'good;' (a semicolon for a comma).
Page 227. To the Lady Bedford.
l. 1. You that are she and you, that's double shee: The old punctuation suggests absurdly that the clause 'and you that's double she' is an independent co-ordinate clause.
l. 7. Cusco. I note in a catalogue, 'South America, a very early Map, with view of Cusco, the capital of Peru'.
l. 44. of Iudith. 'There is not such a woman from one end of the earth to the other, both for beauty of face and wisdom of words.' Judith xi. 21.
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.