Bust: John Donne bust
Erection date: 14/6/2012
{On the front of the plinth:}
John Donne, poet and divine, 1572 - 1631.
{On the vertical bronze edge of the statue's base:}
Hence is’t that I am carried towards the west,
This day, when my soul’s form bends to the east.
{There are compass points around the base of the plinth, and on the stone ground at the 4 points are inscribed, clockwise from north:}
dean - St Paul's Cathedral
reader - Lincoln's Inn
married - Anne More of Losely
birthplace - Bread Street
{On a plaque stamped into the back of the bust:}
City of London, 2012
Alderman Robert Hall - patron
Nigel Boonham FRBS - sculptor
Andrew Whittle - lettering
{On the back of the left shoulder two lines of poetry are stamped, in script:}
True virtu is soule
allways in all deeds all
The poetry on the base of the statue is from Donne’s 1613 poem ‘Good Friday—Riding Westward’. That on the shoulder is from 'A Letter to the Lady Carey, and Mistress Essex Rich, from Amiens' and makes sense to us in this version: "True virtue's soul's always in all deeds all." It was probably written in 1612 and is the only verse in English that survives in Donne's hand.
Site: John Donne bust (1 memorial)
EC4, St Paul's Churchyard
