More than skin deep: dissecting Donne’s imagery of humours
This article explores John Donne’s imagery of humoral complexions in verse letters to patrons and in sermons. In the early modern period, the term ‘complexion’ referred to a person’s unique mixture of humours, the four bodily fluids thought to determine appearance, behaviour, and health. Donne refer...
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| Format: | Article |
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Oxford University Press
2015
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48503/ |
| _version_ | 1848797779275546624 |
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| author | Bumke, Alison |
| author_facet | Bumke, Alison |
| author_sort | Bumke, Alison |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | This article explores John Donne’s imagery of humoral complexions in verse letters to patrons and in sermons. In the early modern period, the term ‘complexion’ referred to a person’s unique mixture of humours, the four bodily fluids thought to determine appearance, behaviour, and health. Donne refers to complexions to raise questions of moral responsibility. Whether he seeks a patron’s support or a congregation’s repentance, he reworks humoral theories in elaborate, often playful ways, illustrating the necessity of whichever action he recommends. This article argues that his imagery of complexions warrants close attention, both for its rhetorical innovations and for what it reveals about Donne’s verse letters. By focusing on his complexions trope, we can look past letters’ flattery and recognize the literary trademarks - the imaginative thinking, wordplay, and themes - of Donne’s other texts, and of his sermons, in particular. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:09:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-48503 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T20:09:18Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Oxford University Press |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-485032020-05-04T17:13:54Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48503/ More than skin deep: dissecting Donne’s imagery of humours Bumke, Alison This article explores John Donne’s imagery of humoral complexions in verse letters to patrons and in sermons. In the early modern period, the term ‘complexion’ referred to a person’s unique mixture of humours, the four bodily fluids thought to determine appearance, behaviour, and health. Donne refers to complexions to raise questions of moral responsibility. Whether he seeks a patron’s support or a congregation’s repentance, he reworks humoral theories in elaborate, often playful ways, illustrating the necessity of whichever action he recommends. This article argues that his imagery of complexions warrants close attention, both for its rhetorical innovations and for what it reveals about Donne’s verse letters. By focusing on his complexions trope, we can look past letters’ flattery and recognize the literary trademarks - the imaginative thinking, wordplay, and themes - of Donne’s other texts, and of his sermons, in particular. Oxford University Press 2015-09-01 Article PeerReviewed Bumke, Alison (2015) More than skin deep: dissecting Donne’s imagery of humours. Review of English Studies, 66 (276). pp. 655-675. ISSN 1471-6968 https://academic.oup.com/res/article/66/276/655/1921902 doi:10.1093/res/hgv054 doi:10.1093/res/hgv054 |
| spellingShingle | Bumke, Alison More than skin deep: dissecting Donne’s imagery of humours |
| title | More than skin deep: dissecting Donne’s imagery of humours |
| title_full | More than skin deep: dissecting Donne’s imagery of humours |
| title_fullStr | More than skin deep: dissecting Donne’s imagery of humours |
| title_full_unstemmed | More than skin deep: dissecting Donne’s imagery of humours |
| title_short | More than skin deep: dissecting Donne’s imagery of humours |
| title_sort | more than skin deep: dissecting donne’s imagery of humours |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48503/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48503/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/48503/ |