Donne: The Reformed Soul.

Donne: The Reformed Soul. Donne: The Reformed Soul. By John Stubbs For the Canadian academic, see John Stubbs (educator). John Stubbs (or Stubbe)c. 1543 - 1591) was an English pamphleteer or political commentator during the Elizabethan era.He was born in Norfolk, and educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. . London: Viking. 2006.xxvi + 565 pp. 25 [pounds sterling]. isbn: 978-0-670-91510-1. John Stubbs begins with a claim that places him in a line ofdescent Noun 1. line of descent - the kinship relation between an individual and the individual's progenitorsfiliation, lineage, descentfamily relationship, kinship, relationship - (anthropology) relatedness or connection by blood or marriage or adoption from Donne's first biographer, Isaak Walton: 'Hisbiography is worth studying not only because he was a splendid writer,but also because he was a brave and principled man' (p .xxv).Walton's Donne is a type of the reformed sinner: a writer whoselater works and actions atone for the 'follies' of his youth,whether these were marrying the daughter of a social superior or writingerotic poetry. As Stubbs makes clear, the modern biographer inevitablyworks in the shadow of Walton's master narrative, criticallyweighing his evidence and revising his interpretation; as Stubbscautions, 'For all its charm and fondness, there are certainregions and intensities of feeling [Walton's] Life simplyavoids' (p. 464). Nevertheless, the sense of the exemplarycharacter of Donne's life and work connects Stubbs with his greatpredecessor. Stubbs's biography is further marked by its debts to twomodern biographical studies, R. C. Bald's John Donne: A Life (1970)and John Carey's John Donne: Life, Mind and Art (1981). Stubbsrelies heavily on Bald's primary research and documentation, whilehis interpretation of Donne's spiritual dilemma is inflected in��flect?v. in��flect��ed, in��flect��ing, in��flectsv.tr.1. To alter (the voice) in tone or pitch; modulate.2. Grammar To alter (a word) by inflection.3. byCarey's emphasis on apostasy apostasy,in religion: see heresy. ApostasySee also Sacrilege.Aholah and Aholibahsymbolize Samaria’s and Jerusalem’s abandonment to idols. [O.T. as a psychological leitmotif leit��mo��tifalso leit��mo��tiv ?n.1. A melodic passage or phrase, especially in Wagnerian opera, associated with a specific character, situation, or element.2. A dominant and recurring theme, as in a novel. thatunderpins Donne's art. Stubbs gives a comprehensive sense of thedouble theological and political bind on English Catholics, and thenadvances a less conflicted reading of Donne's crisis of faith thanCarey. As his title indicates, Stubbs's Donne is a 'reformedsoul': a man who became at ease with an Anglicanism he initiallyadopted for more pragmatic reasons. In Stubbs's reckoning, Donne ischaracterized by his readiness to adapt to prevailing conditions; unlikehis recusant rec��u��sant?n.1. One of the Roman Catholics in England who incurred legal and social penalties in the 16th century and afterward for refusing to attend services of the Church of England.2. A dissenter; a nonconformist. mother, who 'had lived without compromise', Donne'set a more practical example for those who have to make thesociety they inherit work' (p. 446). Such an approach has much to recommend it: Stubbs is good on Donneas a social operative who manoeuvred adroitly a��droit?adj.1. Dexterous; deft.2. Skillful and adept under pressing conditions. See Synonyms at dexterous.[French, from �� droit : ��, to (from Latin between differentgroupings (the Inns of Court, Essex's hangers-on, Egerton'shousehold, the Stuart court) and adapted himself to their contrastingdemands. He makes effective use of the verse letters and other publicpoems as performances through which Donne drew himself to the attentionof influential patrons like the Countess of Bedford and the less savouryRobert Ker, Earl of Somerset. Such work shows Donne as a poeticpragmatist, using his distinctive verse as a calling card in the searchfor preferment pre��fer��ment?n.1. The act of advancing to a higher position or office; promotion.2. A position, appointment, or rank giving advancement, as of profit or prestige.3. and favour. Stubbs's warning against makinggrandiose comparisons between the early modern and the modern underlieshis sympathetic approach to Donne's career: 'Becoming aProtestant in the 1590s was not like joining the Nazi party in the1930s' (p. 446). Perhaps not, but the real issue concerns the'intensities of feeling' within Donne's work, which thisapproach 'simply avoids'. The biography is less compelling in its treatment of the poems forwhich Donne is still chiefly read. While cautioning against a simplistic sim��plism?n.The tendency to oversimplify an issue or a problem by ignoring complexities or complications.[French simplisme, from simple, simple, from Old French; see simple biographical approach, Stubbs reads the Songs and Sonets and Elegies For the poetry, see Elegy.Elegies (エレジーズ, asevidence of Donne's tantalizingly tan��ta��lize?tr.v. tan��ta��lized, tan��ta��liz��ing, tan��ta��liz��esTo excite (another) by exposing something desirable while keeping it out of reach. elusive sex life: 'The GoodMorrow' is a poem of marital content written for Ann (p. 149);'On His Mistres' warns her not to think of accompanying him toEurope (p. 195). Such readings are not of themselves implausible, butthey do betray the central weakness in the book's advocacy of Donneas a 'splendid writer': the complexity of the poetry is notextensively explored. The reader has to take it on trust that Donne wasan original writer; exaggerated claims like 'there are virtually nocontemporary poets who can be said to have influenced him' givelittle substance to this contention (p. 29). Biographers, of course,must concentrate on the shape of a career and the excavation of thesocial milieux in which their subjects operate. Yet a clearer sense ofthe disruptive energies inherent in Donne's erotic and devotionalverse, and the contexts from which this verse emerged, would haveenhanced this portrait. Richard Danson Brown The Open University