"Jeasts which cozen your Expectatyonn": Rhetorical dissimulation in John Donne's "Paradoxes and Problems"

Michael Wayne Price, Purdue University

Abstract

Heretofore critics have interpreted John Donne's Paradoxes and Problems generically and biographically, generating an ambivalent assessment of them at best and outright scorn or uninterest at worst. Both interpretive traditions, moreover, tend to underemphasize or overstate the works' historical and biographical contexts, resulting in an insensitivity to the topical resonances of their historically-specific language. This study, in contrast, recontextualized the works in their original historical and biographical settings, not only underscoring their properties as coterie manuscripts but also attempting to recover the language's topicality. It found that in his Letters, the starting point for most commentary upon the Paradoxes and Problems, Donne characterized them ironically, disguising their subversiveness by portraying them as trivial. Self-reflexive commentary upon the works within the works themselves ("metacommentary") confirms the ironic portrayal, as illustrated by the phrase, "Jeasts which cozen your Expectatyonn." Selected Paradoxes and Problems were discussed in light of four specific historical-biographical contexts: Donne's coterie culture, recusant heritage, preoccupation with the court, and sensitivity to Jacobean political discourse and ideology. Incorporating the hermeneutical principles of Leo Strauss and Annabel Patterson, the study determined that Donne frequently manipulated the multivalencies and ambiguities of language--its "functional ambiguity"--in order to formulate dual-level texts: a safe surface-level message, the ostensible topic of the piece, targeted at a general audience; and a dissembled subtext, oftentimes consisting of subversive or volatile information, to a restricted audience of initiates (hence rhetorical dissimulation). Recent critics have argued that Donne's political ambivalence motivated him to project an affirmative voice in public, a disruptice voice in private, and a carefully disguised mixture of both in some works. This study of rhetorical dissimulation in the Paradoxes and Problems enhances that thesis, enriching critics' understanding of specific aspects of Donne's subversiveness. It found, for examples, that Donne's alienation extended beyond James' court to Queen Anne's; that Donne possessed expertise in outlawed forms of behavior (going underground) and expression (equivocation); that Donne lambasted the court and preferment system; and that Donne critiqued the arcana imperii doctrine, employing that critique to solidify Parliamentary opposition to the crown.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Lein, Purdue University.

Subject Area

British and Irish literature|Rhetoric|Composition

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