Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0015177, Wed, 25 Apr 2007 15:46:13 -0300

Subject
Thoughts: Marvell and Donne in Pale Fire
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I was recently trying to find a parody about a poem written by Marvell ( I found only one of these, written by Sir Walter Raleigh: " The Nymph's Reply to the Passionate Shepherd" ), when I remembered that the same theme had also been employed by John Donne.

In Pale Fire we find John Shade writing of
...distant roads, one saw the steady stream
Of carlights all returning to the dream
Of college education. You went on
Translating into French Marvell and Donne.
It was a year of Tempests: Hurricane
680 Lolita swept from Florida to Maine.

Also in the index there is a reference to line 678:
Index:
Translations, poetical; English into Zemblan, Conmal's versions of Shakespeare, Milton, Kipling, etc., noticed, 962; English into French, from Donne and Marvell, 678; German into English and Zemblan, Der Erlkönig, 662; Zemblan into English, Timon Afinsken, of Athens, 39; Elder Edda, 79; Arnor's Miragarl, 80.

I wonder if the mention of both "Donne and Marvell" together could indicate the famous lines both used in their poems?

Come live with me, and be my love,
And we will some new pleasures prove,
Of golden sands, and crystal brooks,
With silken lines, and silver hooks.
John Donne

COME live with me and be my Love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That hills and valleys, dale and field,
And all the craggy mountains yield.
"The Passionate Shepherd to His Love," Christopher Marlowe.

This explicit link bt. Marvell and Donne ( translated into French by Sybill) could be further explored by us as it may unveil comments made by Nabokov on poetic echoes and replies, plagiarism and the question of translation aside from the ones we may encounter in Pale Fire.
Jansy

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