Views on Colonialism in Donnes Elegy XIX and Wroths Sonnet 22 Essay

Views on Colonialism in Donnes coronach XIX and Wroths Sonnet 22IntroductionIn the midst of Lady Mary Wroths sonnet cycle, a sudden bring up to the colonialist discoveries of dark skinned natives appears. Bringing to mind her participation in Jonsons mask of Blackness, she depicts dark-skinned Indians wor mailping the sun as their god. In the midst of her ruminations on lie with and her preoccupations with her unfaithful lover, Amphilanthus, this sonnet touches on issues close to her personal life as well as some of the preoccupations of her era on the nature of colonialism. In particular the role of religion in Englands colonialist efforts was of prime importance. An examination of behind Donnes Elegy XIX, To His Mistris Going to Bed may give some sagacity into how Wroths Sonnet 22, Like to the Indians Scorched with the Sun deals with the controversies surrounding imperialism.Historical Concerns two authors had close personal ties to Englands colonialist efforts in the New World. Lady Mary Wroths uncle, Sir Philip Sydney, was an investor in Raleighs attempted colony at Roanoke. This venture ultimately failed, however, and would later be followed under King James with the Virginia Company.John Donne was closely tied with the efforts next Raleighs failed attempt. In 1608, after two failed attempts at securing a secretarial post, for the first time in London and then in Ireland, the report circulated that he desire to be made secretary of the colony, a position given alternatively to his friend William Strachey (Johnson 127). If he had been awarded the position, he would have sailed with the new governor, Sir Thomas Gates. This was the ship that was shipwrecked in Bermuda and that winter the Jamestown colon... ...onne, John. A Sermon vpon the VIII. Verse of the I. Chapter of the Acts of the ApostlesGreene, Thomas M. The Poetics of denudation A Reading of Donnes Elegy 19.Yale Journal of Criticism. 2 (2) (1989) 129-143.Hester, M. Thomas. Donnes (Re)Annunciation of the Virgin(ia Colony) in Elegy XIX. South key Review 49-63.Johnson, Stanley. John Donne and the Virginia Company. ELH. 14 (2) (1947) 127-138.Raman, Shankar. Cant Buy Me get along Money Gender, and Colonialism in Donnes Erotic Verse. Criticism. 43 (2) (2001) 135-168.Roberts, Jospephine A. The Poems of Mary Wroth. Baton pigment Louisiana State University Press, 1983.Young, R. V. O my America, my new-found-land Pornography and Imperial Politics in Donnes Elegies. Souch Central Review 35-48.Warnke, Frank J. John Donne Poetry and Prose. New York Random House, 1967.