Donne, Drummond, and The Beautie of the Remarkable Yeare

The Beautie of the Remarkable Yeare of Grace, 1638 celebrates the Scottish National Covenant in high, ecstatic style. Unenthusiastic about the Covenant, Scotland’s leading poet William Drummond of Hawthornden engages critically with topics and even terms that are central to The Beautie. Identification of some allusions to Donne in The Beautie enables a revaluation of Drummond’s well-known criticism of metaphysical style. Rather than deprecating Donne, Drummond can be shown to be chafing against the appropriation of Donnean topics and phrases in the Covenanting high style.