To Sir Henry Wotton at his Going Ambassador to V
John Donne addresses this verse epistle to Sir Henry Wotton as he departs to serve as ambassador to Venice. Donne frames the poem as a fifth kind of paper following four others Wotton has received: the king's own letters bearing his hand and feared name, through which he grants Wotton something of his royal virtue, likening Wotton to a taper lit from the king's torch, a copy of his original, and a beam of the same sun shining now in another sphere; learned papers that Wotton's own hand has filled with useful and pleasurable notes, forming a treasury he can draw on whether he chooses to write or to act; and loving papers of farewell sent by friends grieving gladly at his departure for the sea, arriving now in such numbers that they resemble prayers rising to heaven for a good man passing. Donne asks that his own honest paper be admitted and given the same hearing Wotton himself would request, saying that what Wotton must profess at Venice, this letter now means in offering it: to swear steady love that will not alter before honour, since only honour suits Wotton's rising fortune. Donne adds that he will not honour Wotton's fortune more than he has already honoured his honour, even lacking that fortune. He reflects that it is an easier burden to lack greatness than to govern it, though both weigh heavily, because in want a man's only business is his own, while in governing he must care for others' vices as well. Donne judges it fitting that Wotton's spirits, having passed through schools, courts, and wars, are now placed in their final testing ground of active service, where they can be tried and proven to their fullest degree. Turning to himself, Donne wonders, if there is such a thing as himself, and if there is such a thing as Fortune, that Fortune notices how well he endures her tyranny and so considers nothing more fitting for him than to continue enduring it. He closes by assuring Wotton that although Fortune separates them, God remains as near to Donne where he stays as He is to Wotton abroad, so that Donne's frequent prayers for Wotton's advancement will reach him just as readily, since the stairs by which such prayers ascend to God are of equal length and ease everywhere.
By John Donne · First published 1633 · Genre: Metaphysical poetry, Verse epistle, Occasional poetry · 469 words
First lines
After those reverend papers, whose soul is / Our good and great king's loved hand and fear'd name; / By which to you he derives much of his, / And, how he may, makes you almost the same,
A taper of his torch, a copy writ / From his original, and a fair beam / Of the same warm and dazzling sun, though it / Must in another sphere his virtue stream;
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To Sir Henry Wotton at his Going Ambassador to Venice is listed on Textopian as a poem by John Donne, dated 1633 CE.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: John Donne
- Date: 1633 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Metaphysical poetry, Verse epistle, Occasional poetry, Panegyric, Didactic poetry
- Length: 469 words
- Structure: 1 section, 10 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Difficult (College Level)
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Genres
- Metaphysical poetry — Employs characteristic Metaphysical conceits, philosophical paradoxes, and complex metaphors exploring spiritual and temporal themes central to John Donne's poetic practice.
- Verse epistle — Formally constituted as a letter in verse addressed to a specific person on a particular occasion, exemplifying the verse epistle as both form and genre.
- Occasional poetry — Composed to commemorate and comment upon a specific historical event—Sir Henry Wotton's departure as ambassador to Venice in 1604.
- Panegyric — Delivers sustained eulogy and praise of both the subject and the monarch, employing elevated language and laudatory rhetoric characteristic of the panegyric tradition.
Tags
epistle · dedicatory · metaphysical · advice · friendship · diplomatic · Renaissance · Venice · virtue · honor · travel · reflective