Compass and Cartography: Early Global Exploration and John Donne’s Writing

The Scientific Revolution that occurred during the Renaissance caused fundamental paradigm shifts in European culture, politics, and economics. Advances in cosmology and navigation in particular brought profound changes to the way Renaissance citizens considered the cosmos, the Earth, and their place in them. At the same time, exploration into overseas lands afforded European powers the opportunity to reify nation-state power and to begin the process of colonization that would impact world history for centuries to come. This paradigmatic shift is reflected first of all in the way maps were conceived and drawn. This essay talks about the difference in map depictions from the Medieval tripartite T-O maps that used Biblical lands as a source of orientation to those based on ancient models, such as the Ptolemiac form, that used familiar land masses as points of orientation. John Donne’s writing also reflects the impact these advances had on the thinkers of the age. His frequent symbolic use of compasses, maps and globes in his poetry indicate how Renaissance citizens struggled to rectify these new world views with beliefs still held from the Middle Ages. This essay also offers a close reading of six Donne poems to show how he correlates the impact of the Scientific Revolution and other advances with the cultural moment in which he lived.