The Communicative Function of Performative Ekphrasis, the Anagram Riddle and Proverbial Sayings in John Donne’s Poetic Diptych

Abstract

This essay takes a communication-oriented approach to selected early modern English poetry. It presents a textual analysis of John Donne’s elegy The Anagram, related to the earlier observations concerning his elegy The Comparison, and reveals its multi-generic patterns as well as certain thematic and structural relations between these poems. It thus argues, on textually substantiated grounds, that these elegies may be regarded as a poetic diptych which utilizes features and functions of various forms of communication, associated with literature, visual arts, popular entertainment and folk wisdom. The argument continued in this essay is that Donne draws on the 15/16th-century experimental artistic trend recognized in the particular paintings attributed to B. Passarotti and Q. Massys and appears to superimpose text onto the earlier provided images. The comparative analysis of Donne’s elegies suggests he brings together different reference objects and his poetic message presupposes the addressee’s interaction: certain cognitive and creative processes. By presenting Donne’s ekphrasis as evolving from descriptive to performative, this essay indicates the need to further investigate early modern poetry, by means of interdisciplinary tools, for its references to other arts and, more generally, for its communicative potential.