SOURCE: Guibbory, Achsah. “‘Oh, let mee not serve so’: The Politics of Love in Donne's Elegies.” In Critical Essays on John Donne, edited by Arthur F. Marotti, pp. 17-36. New York: G. K. Hall, 1994.

In the following essay, first published in 1990, Guibbory focuses his discussion of Donne's love poetry on the poet's often grotesque or negative images of the female body.

For modern readers, accustomed to distinct separations between private and public, love and politics may seem strange bedfellows. But recent studies have made us aware of important connections between amatory poetry and patronage, between the discourse of (courtly) love and the seeking of advancement by aspiring men at Queen Elizabeth's court.¹ Arthur Marotti, especially, has analyzed the political circumstances and dimensions of Donne's amatory poetry, arguing that we should see it as “coterie” poetry written in an “encoded” language, embodying Donne's frustrated ambitions for socioeconomic, political power...