John Donne's two anniversaries
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Rithia Anna McGlaun (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Jean Gagen
Abstract: This thesis treats three major problems in John Donne's Two Anniversaries! the subject of the two poems, the themes and structure, and Donne's references to Scholastic natural philosophy and to new science. The latter half of the thesis examines the poet's references to Scholastic thought and to the revolutionary scientific work of his contemporaries in order to determine his reaction to the two conflicting explanations of phenomena. The complexity of the twin poems is immediately evident. This is the primary point of agreement among those who have studied the Two Anniversaries. The first problem which is examined—the question of the subject has been variously resolved. Previous works have interpreted the subject as Astraea, goddess of Justice, Queen Elizabeth I, Christ, and the Virgin Mary. The poems were written as a tribute to Elizabeth Drury after the girl's father hired Donne to memoralize her in verse when she died. This thesis contends that Elizabeth Drury is indeed one subject of the poems. But since Donne never knew the girl personally, he was forced at points in the work to describe more famous women, actual or legendary, with whom he was more familiar in order to produce the two long poems. The evidence that in sections of the poems the subject being described is Astraea and Elizabeth I is considerable, and Chapter One of this thesis concludes that the subject is pluralistic.
John Donne's two anniversaries
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Created on 1/1/1964
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Thesis
- Language: English
- Date: 1964
- Subjects
- Donne, John, $d 1572-1631 $x Criticism and interpretation
- Donne, John, $d 1572-1631. $t Two anniversaries.