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Metaphysical Poetry


As we know that "Metaphysical Poetry" is a term which makes from two words "Meta" and "Physical". Here, Meta means "Beyond the world" means "spiritual world", which can't be seen. Whereas Physical means "material world" or "fashionable world", which is existed in our society.

Metaphysics is the foundation of philosophy. The term Metaphysical Poetry was coined by "Samuel Johnson" (1709 - 1784). He used this word Metaphysical Poetry in his book " Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets ".

This type of poetry is witty ingenious and highly philosophical. In its topic include love, life, and existence. In this type of poetry, poets describe about those things which are not connected to each other. For example, John Donne, in his poem " Valediction: Forbidding Mourning ", he compares lovers with a compass. He shows lovers as a two legs of compass. Again, in his poem " Valediction of Weeping " Donne compares lovers' tear with coins. In the poem "Collar", Herbert compares his life with wine.

In the Metaphysical Poetry, the literary device "Hyperbole" is mostly used. In the poem, " The Sun Rising " the poet John Donne says to the sun that the brightness of my beloved's eyes can make you blind. Besides this, Marvel, in his poem " To His Coy Mistress ", says about his beloved that your eyes and brightness of your face is so beautiful that if I praise it about hundred years is less.

Actually, Metaphysical Poetry is highly intellectualized, use of wit, intelligence. In this type of poetry, the poet's thought is very complicated, they think in a deep sense, so Johnson shows that type of poets as "a man of learning". The nature of Metaphysical Poetry is argumentative in which poets keep their terms and want to prove their terms.

The theme of Metaphysical Poetry are love, lust, God, religion, spirituality and existence. In this type of poetry, though style or diction is more focused than poem's lyrical and musical aspects. Metaphysical poets write also about religion in their poetry.

Samuel Johnson tells about Metaphysical Poets that " the most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together " means they combine two different things and than describe about that. Johnson coined this word Metaphysical Poetry and used this word for the poets of 17th century.

Metaphysical poets are :-

John Donne (1572 - 1631)
George Herbert (1593 - 1633)
Richard Crashaw ( 1612 - 1649)
Andrew Marvell ( 1621- 1678)
Henry Vaughan ( 1621 - 1695) 

John Donne (1572 - 1631)

John Donne is called founder or pioneer of the Metaphysical Poetry. Johnson gave this name to John Donne, because of his writing style and his content. John Donne was born on 1572. Donne came from a Roman Catholic family, despite of his great education and poetic talent he lived in poverty for several years. He started writing religion poems after his wife's death before that he wrote many love poems. He died on March 31, 1631.

In John Donne's poetry, we got some unique versatility, such as he yoked together two entirely opposite ideas and told very serious matters with the help of playfulness. His imagistic writing, use of conceit, abrupt opening with a dramatic style and colloquial diction made his poems highlighted. John Donne mostly used imperative sentences in his poetry. He was looked always to give orders in his poetry like "Go and catch a falling star". The most examples of this we can see in his poem "The Sun Rising".

George Herbert (1593 - 1633)

He was born on April 3, 1593 and died on March 1, 1633. He was an English religious poet and a major Metaphysical poet, notable for the purity and effectiveness of his choice of words. He was educated at home at Westminister School and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He was in 1620, elected Orator of the University, a position that he described as "the finest place in the University".

Herbert described his poems as a picture of many spiritual conflicts and shares his conflicts with Jhon Donne, founder of Metaphysical poetry and a family friend. The main resemblance of Herbert's poems to Donne's is in the use of common language in the rhythms of speech. Some of his poems such as " The Altar " and " The Easter Wings " are pattern poems.

Richard Crashaw ( 1612 - 1649)

Richard Crashaw was born on 1613. He was the only son of William Crashaw, a puritan preacher in London who had officiated at the burning of Mary, Queen of Scots. He wrote many Metaphysical poems following Donne. Though his verse is somewhat uneven in quality as its best it is characterized by brilliant use of extravagant baroque imagery.

Crashaw owned all the bases of his style, as has been already hinted to Donne. His originality was one of treatment and technique. He forged a more rapid and brilliant short line than any of his predecessors had done.

Andrew Marvell ( 1621- 1678)

Andrew Marvell was born on March 31, 1621. The life and work of Andrew Marvell are both marked by extraordinary variety and range. He was gifted with a most subtle and introspective imagination. His technique of drawing upon philosophy to illustrate his argument gives the poem an intellectual appeal not just a visual one.

In Marvell, we find the pretense of passion, in To His Coy Mistress, he used as a peg on which to hang serious reflection on the brevity of happiness. In 20th century, Marvell came to be considered one of the most notable poets of his time. Marvell was eclectic : his "To His Coy Mistress" is a classic of Metaphysical Poetry.

Henry Vaughan ( 1621 - 1695) 

Henry Vaughan was born on April 17, 1622 and died on April 23, 1695. He was an Anglo Welsh poet. He was educated at Oxford and studied law in London. Vaughan was recalled home in 1642 when the first civil war broke out and he remained there the rest of the life.

Vaughan was one of the most original poets of his day. Chiefly he had a gift of spiritual vision or imagination that enabled him to write freshly and easily. He was equally gifted in writing about nature, holding the old view that every flower enjoys the air it breathes. The romantic poet William Wordsworth may have been influenced by Vaughan. 

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