The Eye of the Eagle: John Donne and the Legacy of Ignatius Loyola

364 Pages·2011·3.124 MB·English

by  Francesca Knox Bugliani

49 Vol. 49
Religions Religions
and Discourse and Discourse
F
r
a
John Donne’s family were committed Catholics. His two uncles were Jesuits. One n
c
e
of them, Jasper Heywood, was the leader of the Jesuit mission in England, while s
c
a
Donne’s mother was a recusant who was forced to leave the country in 1595. In this B
u
detailed and historically contextualized study, the author argues that Donne was g
greatly influenced in his journey from militant Roman Catholicism to ordination lian
in the Church of England by Ignatius of Loyola’s religious ideals and in particular i K
n
by his Spiritual Exercises. o
x

l
The book describes the pervasive influence of the Spiritual Exercises on late six- anTh
de
teenth- and early seventeenth-century Catholicism and Protestantism. In this light, t E
it offers a close reading of Donne’s preordination religious poems and prose with he Lye o
constant reference to the sermons. These works are usually read through the tinted egf t Francesca Bugliani Knox
ah
lenses of ‘Catholicism’ or ‘Protestantism’ or other religious ‘-isms’. The reading pro- ce
ptoo tsreadn hsceerne dar tghuee ssi minpstleisatdic t ahnatd I pgenraitloiuuss’s d Sipviisriiotunasl o Ef xceorncitseems wpoerrea rfoy rC Datohnonliec ais mme aannds y of Ig Eagle
na: J
Protestantism. to The Eye of the Eagle
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sn
L D
oyoon
lane
John Donne and the Legacy of Ignatius Loyola
Francesca Bugliani Knox graduated in 1976 from Pisa University (Dott. Lett.) and
was senior lecturer in the English Department of the Università IULM, Milan, from
1986 to 2002. In 2009 she was awarded a PhD by Heythrop College, University
of London. She is now Research Fellow at Heythrop College and Teaching Fellow
at UCL. Her publications include translations into Italian as well as books and
articles on various aspects of English and Italian literature from the Renaissance to
the present.
Peter Lang
www.peterlang.com
49 Vol. 49
Religions Religions
and Discourse and Discourse
F
r
a
John Donne’s family were committed Catholics. His two uncles were Jesuits. One n
c
e
of them, Jasper Heywood, was the leader of the Jesuit mission in England, while s
c
a
Donne’s mother was a recusant who was forced to leave the country in 1595. In this B
u
detailed and historically contextualized study, the author argues that Donne was g
greatly influenced in his journey from militant Roman Catholicism to ordination lian
in the Church of England by Ignatius of Loyola’s religious ideals and in particular i K
n
by his Spiritual Exercises. o
x

l
The book describes the pervasive influence of the Spiritual Exercises on late six- anTh
de
teenth- and early seventeenth-century Catholicism and Protestantism. In this light, t E
it offers a close reading of Donne’s preordination religious poems and prose with he Lye o
constant reference to the sermons. These works are usually read through the tinted egf t Francesca Bugliani Knox
ah
lenses of ‘Catholicism’ or ‘Protestantism’ or other religious ‘-isms’. The reading pro- ce
ptoo tsreadn hsceerne dar tghuee ssi minpstleisatdic t ahnatd I pgenraitloiuuss’s d Sipviisriiotunasl o Ef xceorncitseems wpoerrea rfoy rC Datohnonliec ais mme aannds y of Ig Eagle
na: J
Protestantism. to The Eye of the Eagle
iuh
sn
L D
oyoon
lane
John Donne and the Legacy of Ignatius Loyola
Francesca Bugliani Knox graduated in 1976 from Pisa University (Dott. Lett.) and
was senior lecturer in the English Department of the Università IULM, Milan, from
1986 to 2002. In 2009 she was awarded a PhD by Heythrop College, University
of London. She is now Research Fellow at Heythrop College and Teaching Fellow
at UCL. Her publications include translations into Italian as well as books and
articles on various aspects of English and Italian literature from the Renaissance to
the present.
Peter Lang
www.peterlang.com
The Eye of the Eagle
Religions and Discourse
Edited by James M.M. Francis
Volume 49
PEtER Lang
Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • Frankfurt am Main • new York • Wien
Francesca Bugliani Knox
The Eye of the Eagle
John Donne and the Legacy of Ignatius Loyola
PEtER Lang
Oxford • Bern • Berlin • Bruxelles • Frankfurt am Main • new York • Wien
Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche nationalbibliothek.
Die Deutsche nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche national-
bibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available on the Internet at
http://dnb.d-nb.de.
a catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Bugliani Knox, Francesca, 1953-
The eye of the eagle : John Donne and the legacy of Ignatius Loyola /
Francesca Bugliani Knox.
p. cm. -- (Religions and discourse ; 49)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBn 978-3-0343-0225-8 (alk. paper)
1. Donne, John, 1572-1631--Criticism and interpretation. 2. Donne,
John, 1572-1631--Religion. 3. Christian literature, English--History
and criticism. 4. Ignatius, of Loyola, Saint, 1491-1556--Influence. 5.
Ignatius, of Loyola, Saint, 1491-1556. Exercitia spiritualia. 6.
Christianity and literature--England--History--16th century. 7.
Christianity and literature--England--History--17th century. I. title.
PR2248.B84 2010
821‘.3--dc22
2010041552
ISSn 1422-8998
ISBn 978-3-0343-0225-8
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Printed in germany
The emblem illustrates the contrast between striving to know too much,
symbolized by the fall of Icarus, and recognizing one’s limits, symbolized
by the Eagle. The Eagle, as the text indicates, can see afar, but does not
fly too close to the sun. From: Johannes Sambucus (János Zsamhboki),
Emblemata. Antwerp: C. Plantin, 1584, p. 28.

They that f ly high at matter of mysterie, and leave out matter of edifica-
tion, They that f ly over Sea for plat-formes of discipline, and leave out that
Church that bred them, They that f ly close to the service of great mens
af fections and purposes, and doe the work of God coldly, and faintly, They
may be Alati, but they are not Oculati, They may f ly high, and f ly fast,
and f ly far, and f ly close in the way of preferment, but they see not their
end; Not onely not the end that they shall come to, but not the end that
they are put upon; not onely their owne ends, but not their ends whose
instruments they are. Those birds whose eyes are cieled, and sowed up, f ly
highest; but they are made a prey: God exposes not his servants to such
dangers; He gives them wings, that is meanes to doe their of fice; but eyes
too, that is discretion and religious wisdome how to doe it.
— John Donne, The Sermons
‘Siempre estava en si y sobre si’
— Gerónimo Nadal SJ