Preview

Metaphysical Poetry Essay Example

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
389 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Metaphysical Poetry Essay Example
Metaphysical poetry, a term coined by Samuel Johnson, has its roots in 17th-century England. This type of poetry is witty, ingenious, and highly philosophical. It topics included love, life and existence. It used literary elements of similes, metaphors, imagery, paradoxes, conceit, and far-fetched views of reality.
John Donne is regarded as the “leading poet” of this highly intellectual form of poetry. Donne was influenced by the belief that the precision of beauty in the adored (loved one) behaved as a commemoration of ideal beauty in the everlasting kingdom (heaven). He also used unconventional and colloquial rhythm and tone, which was highly contrary to the Elizabethan poetry style.

Metaphysical poets : The name given to a diverse group of 17th‐century English poets whose work is notable for its ingenious use of intellectual and theological concepts in surprising conceits, strange paradoxes, and far‐fetched imagery. The leading metaphysical poet was John Donne, whose colloquial, argumentative abruptness of rhythm and tone distinguishes his style from the conventions of Elizabethan love‐lyrics. Other poets to whom the label is applied include Andrew Marvell, Abraham Cowley, John Cleveland, and the predominantly religious poets George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, and Richard Crashaw. In the 20th century, T. S. Eliot and others revived their reputation, stressing their quality of wit, in the sense of intellectual strenuousness and flexibility rather than smart humour. The term metaphysical poetry usually refers to the works of these poets, but it can sometimes denote any poetry that discusses metaphysics, that is, the philosophy of knowledge and existence.

John Donne, is remembered today as the leading exponent of a style of verse known as "metaphysical poetry”. Metaphysical poetry typically employs unusual verse forms, complex figures of speech applied to elaborate and surprising metaphorical conceits, and learned themes discussed according to eccentric and

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Eng 102 Poetry Essay Example

    • 4292 Words
    • 18 Pages

    Reflections Within is a non-traditional stanzaic poem made up of five stanzas containing thirty-four lines that do not form a specific metrical pattern. Rather it is supported by its thematic structure. Each of the five stanzas vary in the amount of lines that each contain. The first stanza is a sestet containing six lines. The same can be observed of the second stanza. The third stanza contains eight lines or an octave. Stanzas four and five are oddly in that their number of lines which are five and nine.…

    • 4292 Words
    • 18 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Wit Play Analysis

    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages

    John Donne is made up of various writing such as strong/sensual style, love poems, religious poems and latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, satires, and sermons. John was an author who was very passionate, yet had difficulty expressing and “to prove that glorified bodies in heaven are essentially identical to the bodies possessed on earth” as stated by Professor Ramie Targoff. Donne believes that the union of body and soul is what “makes up the man.” In Targoff’s writing, she is describing John as a very religious human being who aspires to go to heaven and be holy on earth and the afterlife. Ramie explains and describes Donne’s themes for his books, and what he wrote from a different aspect. As stated in the last paragraph of the book review, “Professor Targoff in this book succeeds in her tight and clear focus on a central topic, overt and implied, throughout Donne’s work. Her support for her arguments is generally quite convincing....” However, John’s work mostly consists of the bond between body and soul. He wrote a book taking the title of “Holy Sonnets” which did not consist of his usual writings. The book's content concludes of nineteen poems which were not published until two years after his death, in 1633. “The poems are characterized by innovative rhythm and imagery and constitute a forceful, immediate, personal, and passionate examination of Donne’s love for God, depicting his doubts,…

    • 701 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    john donne and w;t

    • 786 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Through the comparative study of John Donne's poetry and Margaret Edson's play W;t we are shown the individual context of both writers and their perspectives on relationships and death. Donne represents his assurance of life after death in his Holy Sonnets. Additional to this in his earlier poetry, his valuing of deep relationship being critical to the human experience is reflected by his renaissance belief. Edson's individual post-modern context is apparent in the appropriation and rewriting of Donne's ideas to reflect her own perspective. This is further emphasized in the choices made by each composer to represent their ideas in different textual forms.…

    • 786 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Wit Play Analysis

    • 945 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The connections shared between Donne’s metaphysical poetry and Edson’s play Wit, occupies more than the adaptation of ideas and form, it represents the relationship between text and context. Wit reshapes Donne’s experiences of agency and self evaluation, thereby rejuvenating the humanistic paradigms…

    • 945 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Prior to John Donne's Judeo Christian conversion he believed that life was only fulfilling if shared with another individual. He conveyed in his pre-conversion poems and stressed the power and importance of love to a person's well being and existence. Donne contrives the idea that love must not be a "Dull Sublunary lover's love", rather a relationship where "two souls...are one," a love, he explores his conceit, so strong it can stretch "like gold to aery thinness". His geometrical conceit explains that relationships "Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere; This bed thy centre is, these walls, thy sphere." During the 17th century everything revolved around the sun, saying that lovers went against it was seen as going against the, thus showing how vital relationships are to human existence. The medium of a play allows us to a different view on how important love is one life's, and what is to be lost with its absence…

    • 940 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Change In Edson's Poems

    • 2452 Words
    • 10 Pages

    Donne’s poems are interesting in the way they often present an ongoing thought process, rather than a story with a distinct beginning and end. Donne being from the literary culture; many of his poems reflect this mid-way change of heart, as he is comfortable dealing in ongoing reflection and experience, rather than static facts. One of Donne’s love poems, ‘The Sunne Rising’ centres around Donne, in bed with his lover, annoyed at the sun for disturbing their slumber. “Busie old foole, unruly Sunne” he writes. Donne, in personifying the sun, and describing such a thing in paradox (“unruly sun”), supports the idea that literary culture places more emphasis on emotion and description than logical fact. The structure of ideas throughout the poem thereafter is fluid. Donne is initially annoyed at the sun for its punctuality, saying that a love like his knows no time, and the sun would be better off chastising late schoolboys. As the poem progresses, Donne goes from annoyance, to mocking the sun's supposed power (“Thy beames, so reverend… I could eclipse then with a winke”), to then feeling content, and almost bad for the sun. Donne writes “Thou sunne are halfe as happy’as wee, in that the world’s contracted thus”, in which he is stating that the poor, old sun must have an easier job shining down on him and his lover, as their entire world is confined to each other. It is this notion of fluidity of ideas that further reflects the literary culture of Donne’s poems. He uses his writings, not to record tangible fact and feeling, but to support the idea that both his thoughts, and the subjects of his writing, can easily be written flexibly, as they are both…

    • 2452 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Donne and W; T Speech

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages

    His work suggests a healthy appetite for life and its pleasures, while also expressing deep emotion. He did this through the use of conceits, wit and intellect – as seen in the poems “Hymn to God my God” and “Death Be Not Proud”. The questions of life, death and love shown in Donne’s poetry are also then expressed again through W;t as Vivian recounts and expresses her feelings during her time of sickness. Wit re-embodies Donne’s experiences of agony and self evaluation, thereby revitalising the feelings expressed and felt by Vivian…

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Edson uses many different characters, in particular the protagonist, Vivian Bearing, to conceptualise ideas of Donne poems. This is by drawing relations from Donne’s poetry and Vivian’s life events such as through job prospects as well as relational and death issues encountered. This is then use in order to trivalise the study of Donne but drawing different meanings from the initial intended notions. Donne uses poems such as Death Be Not Proud, Hymne to my God, my God in my Sicknesse (Hymn to God), The Valediction: Forbidding Mourning (The Valediction), If Poysonous Mineralls and My Playes Last Scene in order to portray his views upon the themes of death and relational values as well as the significance of religion. The manipulation of meaning in different contexts is prominently showcased in W;t in various ways.…

    • 1284 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Metaphysical Era began during the 17th century in England. It was a very significant period for all forms of literature. It instigated much change for the style of writing of many poets during the time, including John Donne, one of the most prominent…

    • 927 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The Odyssey, by Homer, is one of the most poetic and vivid verses of its time. Many of…

    • 393 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Women in Renaissance

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Cited: Donne, John. (1901). Poems of John Donne. Vol, 2. Ed. E. K. Chambers. London: A.H.Bullen.…

    • 743 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Meditation 17 is a very influential poem from John Donne. Many of his famous works are now considered to be "metaphysical" these poems are works that were made to study the deeper nature of reality and make concrete image comparisons between the real world and theology and psychology. The poem Meditation 17 was written by Donne at a time of great stress and hardship because he was on his deathbed, this perspective helped him to focus on his true beliefs and communicate his point of view.…

    • 559 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    John Donne was to most, considered a metaphysical poet, or a poet who finds their inspiration on expressing the world not as it would be universally revealed but in the world as science and philosophy account it. The poem "The Apparition" lacks many of the general characteristics that distinguish metaphysical poetry but continues to be classified as a metaphysical representation (Norton, 1). "The Apparition" contains at least three transformations of feeling. The manifestation success of this relationship gives the speaker so much pleasure that he revokes the suggestion he suggested in the beginning, the idea of threatening his lover into more agreeable behavior because he believes he would enjoy her chastisement more than her reformation. The speaker of the poem seems to feel that spite appears more reputable than vice. In this thinking the speaker seems to not only threaten her as she is awake but also in her sleep.…

    • 1434 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    During the reign of Charles I (1625-1649), son and successor to James I (1603-1625), there was a Civil War between the supporters of the King Charles and his court (known as “Cavaliers”) and the supporters of Parliament (known as “Roundheads,” possibly because they wore their hair short). In general, Roundheads were hostile to anything associated with the court -- including its refined literary forms. The conflict was part political (if Parliament gained more power, the monarch and court had less), part religious (the Roundheads tended to be extremely Puritan(ical), and were shocked at the laxity and frivolity of the court), and part cultural: poetry had traditionally been an aristocratic pursuit and thus was not to be trusted. Poems were mostly written within court circles, for court audiences; poetry tended to be circulated in manuscript form rather than published; skill in writing verses was to a certain extent a sign of good breeding, like dressing well or using the right fork at dinner.…

    • 1861 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Metaphysical Poets

    • 1611 Words
    • 7 Pages

    The term metaphysical poets was coined by the poet and critic Samuel Johnson to describe a loose group of British lyric poets of the 17th century, whose work was characterized by the inventive use of conceits, and by speculation about topics such as love or religion. These poets were not formally affiliated; most of them did not even know or read each other (Wikipedia). Their work is a blend of emotion and intellectual ingenuity, characterized by conceit or “wit”—that is, by the sometimes violent yoking together of apparently unconnected ideas and things so that the reader is startled out of his complacency and forced to think through the argument of the poem. Metaphysical poetry is less concerned with expressing feeling than with analyzing it, with the poet exploring the recesses of his consciousness. The boldness of the literary devices used—especially obliquity, irony, and paradox—is often reinforced by a dramatic directness of language and by rhythms derived from that of living speech. Esteem for Metaphysical poetry never stood higher than in the 1930s and ’40s, largely because of T.S. Eliot’s influential essay “The Metaphysical Poets” (1921), a review of Herbert J.C. Grierson’s anthology Metaphysical Lyrics & Poems of the Seventeenth Century. In this essay Eliot argued that the works of these men embody a fusion of thought and feeling that later poets were unable to achieve because of a “dissociation of sensibility,” which resulted in works that were either intellectual or emotional but not both at once. In their own time, however, the epithet “metaphysical” was used pejoratively: in 1630 the Scottish poet William Drummond of Hawthornden objected to those of his contemporaries who attempted to “abstract poetry to metaphysical ideas and scholastic quiddities.” At the end of the century, John Dryden censured Donne for affecting “the…

    • 1611 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays