Classic and Contemporary Poetry
ELEGY: 13. JULIA, by JOHN DONNE Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Harke newes, o envy, thou shalt heare descry'd Last Line: No poyson's halfe so bad as julia. | ||||||||
Harke newes, o envy, thou shalt heare descry'd My Julia; who as yet was ne'r envy'd. To vomit gall in slander, swell her vaines With calumny, that hell it selfe disdaines, Is her continuall practice; does her best, To teare opinion even out of the brest Of dearest friends, and (which is worse than vilde) Sticks jealousie in wedlock; her owne childe Scapes not the showres of envie, To repeate The monstrous fashions, how, were, alive, to eate Deare reputation. Would to God she were But halfe so loath to act vice, as to heare My milde reproofe. Liv'd Mantuan now againe, That foemall Mastix, to limme with his penne This she Chymera, that hath eyes of fire, Burning with anger, anger feeds desire, Tongued like the night-crow, whose ill boding cries Give out for nothing but new injuries, Her breath like to the juice in Tenarus That blasts the springs, though ne'r so prosperous, Her hands, I know not how, us'd more to spill The food of others, then her selfe to fill. But oh her minde, that Orcus, which includes Legions of mischiefs, countlesse multitudes Of formlesse curses, projects unmade up, Abuses yet unfashion'd, thoughts corrupt, Mishapen Cavils, palpable untroths, Inevitable errours, self-accusing oaths: These, like those Atoms swarming in the Sunne, Throng in her bosome for creation. I blush to give her halfe her due; yet say, No poyson's halfe so bad as Julia. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A HYMN TO CHRIST, AT THE AUTHOR'S LAST GOING INTO GERMANY by JOHN DONNE A HYMN TO GOD THE FATHER by JOHN DONNE A LECTURE UPON THE SHADOW by JOHN DONNE A NOCTURNAL UPON ST. LUCY'S DAY, BEING THE SHORTEST DAY by JOHN DONNE A VALEDICTION: FORBIDDING MOURNING by JOHN DONNE A VALEDICTION: OF MY NAME IN THE WINDOW by JOHN DONNE A VALEDICTION: OF THE BOOKE by JOHN DONNE A VALEDICTION: OF WEEPING by JOHN DONNE AN ANATOMY OF THE WORLD: THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY by JOHN DONNE ELEGY: 11. THE BRACELET; UPON THE LOSS OF HIS MISTRESS'S CHAIN by JOHN DONNE |
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