Report On Metaphysical Poets
Introduction The Metaphysical poets were a loose group of British lyric poets of the 17 th century, who shared an interest in Metaphysical concerns and a common way of investigating them. The term “Metaphysical can be interpreted as beyond (Meta) Physical nature (Physical). Dryden was the first to use the term in connection with Donne by saying that he “affects the metaphysics”. Dr. Samuel Johnson later described Donne and his followers as the metaphysical poets. The most important metaphysical poets are John Donne, Andrew Marvell, Henry Vaughan, George Herbert, Thomas Traherne, Abraham Cowley and Richard Crashaw. These poets themselves did not form a school or start a movement; Most of them not even know or read each other. Their rigorous verse appeals to the reader’s intellect rather than emotion. Their style was characterized by wit, subtle arguments, metaphysical conceits and an unusual simile or metaphor. By itself, Metaphysical means dealing with the relationship between spirit to matter or the ultimate nature of reality. The metaphysical poets are obviously not the only poets to deal with this subject matter. Therefore some special features or characteristics of the metaphysical poetry are as follows: •
Use of ordinary speech mixed with puns, paradoxes and conceits (a paradoxical metaphor causing a shock to the reader by the strangeness of the subjects compared, some examples, lovers and a compass, the soul and timber, the body and mind.)
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The exaltation of list which is the 17 th century meant the nimbleness of though, a sense of fancy (imagination of a fantastic or whimsical nature.)
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Abstruse terminology often drawn from science or law.
• Often poems are presented in the form of an argument.
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In love poems, the metaphysical poets often draw on ideas from Renaissance Neo-Platonism to show the relationship between the soul and body and the union of lovers souls.