[lit-ideas] "Their form and their infinitie Make a terrestriall Galaxie" (Donne)
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 14 Sep 2004 14:04:30 EDT
In a message dated 9/14/2004 1:52:11 PM Eastern Standard Time,
andreas@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
I was reading Donne's poems last night and he writes about galaxies. Did
people know what
galaxies were in the 1600s? I thought it was only in the early 1900s that
astronomers
realized what these were. What did Donne mean by his idea of galaxy?
It's from the Gr. 'galakt-', from 'gala', milk. The OED defines it as "a
luminous band or track, encircling the heavens irregularly, and known to
consist
of innumerable stars, perceptible only by means of the telescope; the Milky
Way." -- and the cites are
1398 TREVISA Barth. De P.R. VIII. viii. (1495) 305
Galaxias is a cercle of heuen more fayr and bryghte than other cercles.
1569 J. SANDFORD tr. Agrippa's Van. Artes 43b,
The Astrologers be yet ignorant what Galaxias is, that is to saie, the
Milkie circle.
1583 T. WATSON Centurie of Loue xxxi. Annot. Poems (Arb.) 67
Galaxia..is a white way or milky Circle in the heauens.
Under 'b', pre-Donne, the quotes include:
1384 CHAUCER H. Fame II. 428
See yonder, lo, the Galaxyë Which men clepeth the Milky Wey, For hit is
whyt.
Now, the OED recognises a "transf. and fig.; now chiefly applied to a
brilliant assemblage or crowd of beautiful women or distinguished persons,"
and
cites from
1590 GREENE Never too late Wks. (Rtldg.) 298
The milk~white galaxia of her brow.
It's here that the Donne quotes features -- under 'figurative'.
1631 DONNE Poems (1650) 51
"Upon this Primrose hill, Where..Their form and their infinitie Make a
terrestriall Galaxie."
So I would say a triple metaphor is at play here -- unless the Ancients did
believe the Milky Way was _made_ of milk, which was quite possible (that they
believed so, not that it was made of milk).
(milk ----> (fig. 1) Milky Way ----> (fig-2) 'brilliant assemblage')
It's not clear from the OED quote what the subject of 'their form and their
infinitie' is, though (women?)
Cheers,
JL
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