Christopher Brooke, Rowland Woodward, Donne, relationship, friendship, verse letter, epistolary, decorum
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aptitude and soundness of judgement are enhanced by, and even dependant upon, communication with friends in verse. He continues, “But for these/ I could ideate nothing, which could please,/ But I should wither in one day” (ll.3-5). Comparable sentiments regarding the positive influence of friendship are expressed in ‘The Storme’, a poem addressed to Christopher Brooke, in which Donne claims “’Tis the preheminence/ Of friendship onely to’impute excellence” (ll.7-8). Alternately, in his response ‘To Mr T. W.’ (“Pregnant again with th’old twins Hope and Feare”) he describes his satisfaction at receiving a verse letter from Thomas Woodward in terms of the spiritual nourishment with which it provides him: “After this banquet my Soule doth say grace,/ And praise thee for’it” (ll.10-11). Donne simply reverses the conceit that abusive verses are capable of inflicting actual physical harm upon their recipients by stating that amicable epistles are beneficial to his well-being. In these epistles Donne situates himself as his correspondents’ patient, debtor and dependant. The emphasis upon this beneficiary-benefactor dynamic is a point of epistolary decorum through which he demonstrates that he has considered the nature of the relationship between himself and his addressee and pitched his verse accordingly.
356
In ‘To Mr. R. W.’ (“Kindly I enuy thy songs perfection”), Donne claims that receiving a verse epistle from Rowland Woodward has been responsible for resuscitating him: “Oh, I was dead; but since thy song new Life did give,/ I recreated, even by thy creature, live” (ll.13-14). Ingratiatingly, Donne feigns an absolute reliance upon Woodward’s generosity towards him, makes clear that he has contemplated the dynamics of their relationship, and implies that this relationship realises its purest and most potent
Manuscripts with Introductions and Commentary, ed. Herbert J. C. Grierson, 2 vols (OUP, 1963), I. pp.180-2. Subsequent quotations of Donne’s verse are from this edition.
356 See, for instance, D. J. Palmer, ‘The Verse Epistle’, in Metaphysical Poetry, ed. Malcolm Bradbury and D. J. Palmer (Arnold, 1970), pp.73-100 (p.77).
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