Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T21:23:08.665Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

2 - The text of Donne’s writings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2006

Achsah Guibbory
Affiliation:
Barnard College, New York
Get access

Summary

The most important fact to keep in mind when considering the texts of John Donne's writings is that Donne preferred manuscript circulation to print publication for both his prose and his poetry, and that preference has significant consequences for the study of his texts. Although printing was introduced into England in 1475, it did not immediately triumph over scribal publication. Indeed, for more than two hundred years after the introduction of printed books intended for mass circulation, many writers continued to publish primarily via manuscript copies of their works sent to selected audiences. Moreover, during the early modern period, manuscript publication was not a peripheral phenomenon or an inferior form of transmission, but was important in the commerce of disseminating texts and was considered by many - including John Donne - to be superior to print. His choice of manuscript publication makes a crucial difference in the way a reader should view Donne's texts.

Unlike his friend and almost exact contemporary Ben Jonson, who collected and oversaw the printing of his Workes (1616), John Donne scorned print publication and avoided it as much as possible. Nearly all of the few works of his that were printed in his lifetime were committed to the press at the urging of friends or in obedience to the king or a noble patron, and of those few that were printed several were issued anonymously. Donne considered the offering of his poetry and prose to the masses under his name a violation of his dignity and gravity as a gentleman and found the idea of being considered a professional writer offensive. As he wrote to his friend Henry Goodyer in 1609, Donne sought to pursue ‘‘a graver course, then of a Poet, into which (that I may also keep my dignity) I would not seem to relapse’’ (Letters , p. 103).

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×