Note 1. Mr. Gosse very justly says of Donne’s ‘system of prosody:’ “The terms ‘irregular,’ ‘unintelligible,’ and ‘viciously rugged’ are commonly used in describing it, and it seems even to be supposed by some critics that Donne did not know how to scan. This last supposition may be rejected at once; what there was to know about poetry was known to Donne. But it seems certain that he intentionally introduced a revolution into English versification. It was doubtless a rebellion against the smooth and somewhat nerveless iambic flow of Spenser and the earliest contemporaries of Shakespeare, that Donne invented his violent mode of breaking up the line into quick and slow beats.” (Jacobean Poets, 1894.) [back]
Note 2. Mandrake root: Mandragora officinalis, a low plant having a fleshy root often forked, and supposed to resemble a man. It was therefore supposed to have animal life, and to cry out when pulled up. All parts of the plants are strongly narcotic. (Webster.) Cf. Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, act iv. sc. 3:
