A Lecture Upon the Shadow
Donne's English
Read older English with confidence.
Donne wrote about four hundred years ago, so his spelling looks strange today. Many words ended in an extra 'e': houres, Sunne, noone, behinde, doe, worke.
That final 'e' later dropped out of English spelling.
The possessive was often written without an apostrophe: 'loves philosophy' means love's philosophy.
Adjectives can take a special meaning from context: 'infant loves' are loves that have only just begun.
'Brave clearnesse' uses 'brave' in its older sense of splendid or fine, not courageous.
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