Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Textual Note
- Introduction
- 1 Doris, or the Shepherd’s Complaint
- 2 To Anna R.[oemers]
- 3 [From] Batava Tempe: That Is the Lime-avenue of The Hague
- 4 The Exiled Shepherd: To the Lord Daniel Heinsius, Knight etc.
- 5 The Character of an Ambassador
- 6 Ship’s Talk, on the Death of Prince Maurits
- 7 To the Lady Tesselschade Crombalch with My Translations from the English Poems of Dr Donne
- 8 To Barlaeus
- 9 On the Death of Tesselschade’s Eldest Daughter, and on Her Husband Thereafter Bleeding to Death
- 10 The White Moon
- 11 The Mist Descending
- 12 The First Stone of the Marksmen’s School in The Hague, Laid by Prince William of Orange, on the Day of Public Prayer, 2 December 1636
- 13 To Stella, My Dearest Wife, Now Dead
- 14 [From] The Day’s Work: The Order of the House
- 15 In Her Snow-cold Arms
- 16 Prayer for the Holy Communion
- 17 The Lake
- 18 The Holy Communion
- 19 New Year
- 20 Good Friday
- 21 Pentecost
- 22 Christmas
- 23 Easter
- 24 To Tesselschade
- 25 On the Roses of the Most Eminent Painter, Daniel Seegers
- 26 To Tesselschade, Departing
- 27 To Albert Dürer on His Engraved Picture
- 28 On the Holy Communion
- 29 Again on the Holy Communion
- 30 [From] Hofwijk
- 31 Awakening
- 32 To the Lady Luchtenburgh, with My Poems Translated from the English of Donne
- 33 Again on Painting
- 34 On the Frontispiece of Korenbloemen
- 35 On the Grave of Jacob van Campen
- 36 The Vanity of Dreams
- 37 On an Engraved Glass
- 38 On My Birthday
- 39 Consolation of the Eyes, to the Lady of St Annaland
- 40 On the Holy Communion
- 41 Stillness and Snow after Storm and High Water
- 42 My Puppy’s Epitaph
- Appendix I A Selection of Huygens’ Poems in Modern European Languages
- Appendix II A Selection of Huygens’ Writings in English
- Appendix III Huygens and English Literature
- Appendix IV Additional Poems on Painting
- Bibliography
- Index of Titles and First Lines
- Amsterdam Studies in the Dutch Golden Age
32 - To the Lady Luchtenburgh, with My Poems Translated from the English of Donne
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 09 February 2021
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- Textual Note
- Introduction
- 1 Doris, or the Shepherd’s Complaint
- 2 To Anna R.[oemers]
- 3 [From] Batava Tempe: That Is the Lime-avenue of The Hague
- 4 The Exiled Shepherd: To the Lord Daniel Heinsius, Knight etc.
- 5 The Character of an Ambassador
- 6 Ship’s Talk, on the Death of Prince Maurits
- 7 To the Lady Tesselschade Crombalch with My Translations from the English Poems of Dr Donne
- 8 To Barlaeus
- 9 On the Death of Tesselschade’s Eldest Daughter, and on Her Husband Thereafter Bleeding to Death
- 10 The White Moon
- 11 The Mist Descending
- 12 The First Stone of the Marksmen’s School in The Hague, Laid by Prince William of Orange, on the Day of Public Prayer, 2 December 1636
- 13 To Stella, My Dearest Wife, Now Dead
- 14 [From] The Day’s Work: The Order of the House
- 15 In Her Snow-cold Arms
- 16 Prayer for the Holy Communion
- 17 The Lake
- 18 The Holy Communion
- 19 New Year
- 20 Good Friday
- 21 Pentecost
- 22 Christmas
- 23 Easter
- 24 To Tesselschade
- 25 On the Roses of the Most Eminent Painter, Daniel Seegers
- 26 To Tesselschade, Departing
- 27 To Albert Dürer on His Engraved Picture
- 28 On the Holy Communion
- 29 Again on the Holy Communion
- 30 [From] Hofwijk
- 31 Awakening
- 32 To the Lady Luchtenburgh, with My Poems Translated from the English of Donne
- 33 Again on Painting
- 34 On the Frontispiece of Korenbloemen
- 35 On the Grave of Jacob van Campen
- 36 The Vanity of Dreams
- 37 On an Engraved Glass
- 38 On My Birthday
- 39 Consolation of the Eyes, to the Lady of St Annaland
- 40 On the Holy Communion
- 41 Stillness and Snow after Storm and High Water
- 42 My Puppy’s Epitaph
- Appendix I A Selection of Huygens’ Poems in Modern European Languages
- Appendix II A Selection of Huygens’ Writings in English
- Appendix III Huygens and English Literature
- Appendix IV Additional Poems on Painting
- Bibliography
- Index of Titles and First Lines
- Amsterdam Studies in the Dutch Golden Age
Summary
The English tongue once sounded sweetly
From the man's or woman's tongue
Now it strikes our ears with horror
Like the snarling of a hound.
Since those animals with tails
Drank their fill of royal blood
All their deeds fill us with fear,
Their words themselves are turned to soot.
Now the moment justifies
The trouble which I took before;
The child which I begot long since
Is timely now as when ‘twas born.
Read English, Madam, without fear
The English bitterness has gone,
Being but dreams dreamed o’er again
The ancient body with new skin.
Do not recoil from these my trifles.
As if they had half-cheated you,
You won't regret the reading of them,
The matter's worthy your fair eyes.
The matter, marrow, pith and kernel,
All of these are rich within,
The bark and rind, I freely own them,
They are mine only outwardly.
But if you look through my poor shells
Marrow and pith you’ll simply find,
As men can see the flesh and bones
Which lie below the covering skin.
Be patient with my outer shells
En deckt haer’ feilen met uw’ gunst,
Men heeft meer goe spijs sien vermorssen
Door kocks en koocksters sonder kunst.
Oock mooght ghij 't mij alleen niet wijten
Die selver niet onschuldigh zijt,
Al soud't u twee mael over spijten,
U komt een deel in dit verwijt.
Ghij meent uw leden te vereeren
Met woll’ en zijd’ en Linnen-web,
Maer lett eens op die schors van kleeren,
En wat ick in mijn’ sinnen heb.
Wie gaeter voor, God of de menschen,
Die ‘tschepsel bouwde naer syn’ sin,
Of die het leggen en verwenschen
Met hier wat meer en daer wat min?
God, sult ghy seggen, en met reden.
Maer ister niet half met gegeckt?
En werden niet volmaeckte leden
Met onvolmaecktheden gedeckt?
En meent ghij dat ick u sou achten
Gelijckm’ u acht en achten moet,
Sagh ick niet dieper met gedachten
Dan ijemant met twee ooghen doet?
En meent ghij dat wij 't daer by laeten
En stuijten op uw’ schoone huyt,
En datw’ ons onder die gewaeten
Vernoeghen met de naeckte Bruijt?
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- A Selection of the Poems of Sir Constantijn Huygens (1596–1687)Revised, Second Edition, pp. 212 - 217Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2015