Metaphysical poetry

Name : Dhruvita Dhameliya

Roll no : 03

Semester : 1 

Year : 2021 to 2023

Topic : characteristics of the metaphysical poetry

E-mail ID : dhameliyadhruvita24@gmail.com

Submitted to : S. B. Gardi Department of English Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University MKBU

Characteristics of Metaphysical poetry : 

Introduction : 

'Metaphysical poetry is a group of 

poems that share common 

characteristics: they are all highly 

intellectualized, use rather strange 

imagery, use frequent paradox and 

contain extremely complicated thought.'

The word 'meta' means 'after,' so the literal translation of 

'metaphysical' is 'after the physical.' Basically, metaphysics deals with questions that can't be explained by science. It questions the nature of reality in a philosophical way.

In the book “Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets , the author Samuel Johnson made the first use of the word Metaphysical Poetry. He used the term Metaphysical poets to define a loose group of the poets of 17th century. The group was not formal and most of the poets put in this category did not know or read each other’s writings. This group’s most prominent poets include John Donne, Andrew Marvell, Abraham Cowley, George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, Thomas Traherne, Richard Crashaw, etc. He noted in his writing that all of these poets had the same style of wit and conceit in their poetry. Dr Johnson wanted to criticise the poetry of Donne and his followers by using the term 'metaphysical poetry' but with the passing of the time the same term became the term of appraisal for their poetry.

Dr.johnson has passed one remarkable comment stating that the poetry that, 

"The metaphysical poets stood trial of their finger but failed in trial of the ears."

What Dr. Johnson want to state that there is no music and rhythm in their poetry.

  

CHARACTERISTICS OF METAPHYSICAL POETRY : 

 The group of metaphysical poets that we mentioned earlier is 

obviously not the only poets or philosophers or writers that deal 

with metaphysical questions. There are other more specific 

characteristics that prompted Johnson to place the 17th-century 

poets together.

Perhaps the most common characteristic is that metaphysical 

poetry contained large doses of wit. In fact, although the poets 

were examining serious questions about the existence of God or 

whether a human could possibly perceive the world, the poets 

were sure to wit. Poet ponder those questions with humor.

Metaphysical poetry also sought to shock the reader and wake 

him or her up from his or her normal existence in order to 

question the unquestionable. The poetry often mixed ordinary 

speech with paradoxes and puns. The results were strange, 

comparing unlikely things, such as lovers to a compass or the soul 

to a drop of dew. These weird comparisons were called conceits.

Metaphysical poetry investigates the relation between rational, logical argument on the one hand and intuition or “mysticism” on the other, often depicted with sensuous detail Metaphysical poetry is considered highly ambiguous due to high intellect and knowledge of metaphysical poets.

  

Metaphysical poetry talks about deep things. It talks about soul, love, religion, reality etc. You can never be sure about what is coming your way while reading a metaphysical poem. There can be unusual philosophies and comparisons that will make you think and ponder. The most important characteristics of metaphysical poetry is “undissociated sensibility” the combination of feeling and thoughts.

Even though it talks about serious stuff, it talks about it in a humorous way. The tone is sometimes light. It can be harsh sometimes too. The purpose is to present a new idea and make the reader think.

 In Romantic poetry, 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.

According to Grierson, the two chief characteristics of metaphysical poetry are paradoxical ratiocination and passionate feelings. As Donne opens his poem,

 “The indifferent ” with a line with a paradoxical comment. “I can love both fair and brown”

Other unique feature of this poetry is Platonic Love. The word is taken after Plato. Platonic love is a non-romantic love. There is no lust or need of physical contact. It is spiritual love and is mostly for God.

Another feature of the metaphysical poetry is its fantastic lyrics style. 

As A. C. Word said: 

“The metaphysical style is a combination of two elements, the fantastic form and style, and the incongruous in matter manner”. 

The versification of the metaphysical poetry is also coarse and jerky like its diction. The main intention of the metaphysicals was to startle the readers. They deliberately avoided conventional poetic style to bring something new to the readers. Their style was not conventional and the versification contrast with much of the Elizabethan writers. 

It arouses some extreme level of thoughts and feelings in the readers by asking life-altering questions. 

 The Abrupt Beginning

The abrupt and sudden striking beginning is an important feature of metaphysical poetry. For example the beginning line of the poem The Canonization is....

         

"For God's sake hold your 

tongue and let me love"

Argumentative Presentation

Metaphysical poetry is a mixture of feelings and philosophical argument. They try to prove their statement by solid arguments. Here is an example from the poem Sweetest love, I do not go…

"They who one another keep

Alive, never parted bee.."

Here poet makes the argument that if one accompanied died that doesn't mean that they are parted. Because another person always keeps him in her heart. So there is no partition in love by death.

 The use of conceits

Conceits are a comparison between two unlike things that are not similar at any angle still writers try to put it together, which is a high kind of intellectual. Example of Conceit in Donne's poetry is "A Valediction:Forbidding Mourning." Here Donne tries to describe lovers as the two ends of Compass.

The main conceit or metaphor used in the poem "The Sun Rising" is the personification of the sun as an old man "busy old fool unruly" whose business is to get up everyone. Another conceit is used as her beloved is the treasure of the world. Which is expressed in the following lines…

She is all states and all princes,

I nothing else is,

All honor's mimic,

All wealth Alchemy

Use of wit and Highly Intellectual poems

John Done is passionately witty and wittily passionate. Leishman is impressed by Donne's poetry and considers him as " The Monarch of wit." THe finest illustrations of wit we can find in the poem The Flea…

"This flea is you and I

And this is our marriage bed,

And marriage temple is."

Another characteristic of such poetry is that it is unclear. Because it provides such complicated themes, the idea of metaphysical poems is somewhat not definite. It is different for every person. It depends on the perception and experiences of the reader. Every person will take something different out of the same poem based on their beliefs and understanding.

MAJOR THEME IN METAPHYSICAL POETRY:-

Spiritual Love & Physical Love

Fidelity

Paradox

Religion

Interconnection with Humanity

Death 

  Major Poets :

John Donne [1572 - 1631]

Henry Vaughan [1622 - 1695]

Andrew Marvell [1621 - 1678]

Abraham Cowley [1618 - 1667]

George Herbert [1593 - 1633]

Richard Crashaw [1613 - 1649]

John Cleveland [1613 - 1658]

Thomas Traherne [1636/1637 - 1674]

Saint Robert Southwell [1561 - 1595]

JOHN DONNE'S WELL-KNOWN POEMS ARE:-

"Death Not Be Proud"

"The Dream"

"The Flea"

"Sweetest Love, I do not go"

"The Sun Rising"

"The Ecstasy"

"The Anniversary"

1.."Death be not proud"..........

Death be not proud, is one of the holy sonnet. In the present sonnet Donne wants to show that death is not something to be affraid off..Of course some people considered death mighty and dangerous but, in reality not..

This is one of Donne's more well known poem. The poem speaks of how heaven is 'Eternal'; Death in this poem is personified. He uses 'rest' and 'sleep' to speak of how they are images of what Death is like.... The poet states that death shouldn't be proud because, Death is nothing except one short sleep and after that short sleep we getup once again with a new body,new life and new enthusiasm. If Death is accepted in such manner, there will not be any Death at all and Death itself would died.. The aim of the poet behind writing this Sonnet is to nullify the fear of death. The poet has presenting altogether a different picture of death in the present Sonnet.

This poem is made up of only one stanza,it has fourteen lines..

2.."The Dream".....

This is a poem about a Dream, which Donne had. He was greatly in love,buy when he awoke he was still in great love.However, he realized that love is not without pain and fear, Nonetheless, those feelings will not break his spirit and he will continue to dream of how great Love is and can be.

"The Dream" is a two stanzas poem with twenty lines in the first and ten in the second stanza.

3.."The Flea"......

The poem "The Flea" is perhaps one of Donne's best known works.

Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,

Where we almost, nay more than married are.

This flea is you and I, and this

Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is;

Though parents grudge, and you, w'are met,

And cloistered in these living walls of jet.

"The Flea" is a perfect example of a metaphysical conceit. The entire poem itself uses a flea bite as a way to talk a lover into a sexual relationship. Donne uses creative and complex analogies to compare their sexual union to the bite of a flea. Since their blood already mixed in the flea, they are already connected like they would be in a sexual union.

‘The Flea’ by John Donne is a metaphysical poem. Metaphysical poets belonged to the 17th century. The works of the metaphysical poets are marked by philosophical exploration, colloquial diction, ingenious conceits, irony and metrically flexible lines. They wrote poems on love, religion and mortality. The metaphysical poets described these topics through unusual comparisons, frequently employing unexpected similies and metaphors in displays of wit. 

John Donne is the foremost figure along with George Herbert, Andrew Marvell, Abraham Cowley, Richard Crashaw and Henry Vaughan.Conceit is a striking, strained or affected modes of expression. Conceits are common in Elizabethan poetry and metaphysical verse. Metaphysical conceits are bolder and more ingenious.

For example, Donne uses “stiff twin compasses” to express the souls of two lovers. The speaker asks his beloved to look at the flea before them. It is not good of her that she denies him. The flea sucked him first and then it sucks her. Thus, their bloods are mixed in the flea. This mingling of both bloods is not a sin. Neither is it shame nor is it loss of maidenhead. Yet this flea enjoys itself before it woos. The flea has taken two bloods and made it one. This act is more than what they would do.He stops his beloved to spare the flea because there are three lives in one flea. As their blood is mingled in the flea, they are more than married couples. The flea is an amalgamation of him and his love. The flea is their marriage bed and marriage temple. Their parents grudge their romance. They are cloistered in the living walls of the flea. She is apt to kill him. He requests not to kill the flea. If she kills the flea, it would be self-murder and sacrilege. She would be committing three sins by killing three.His lady has killed the flea and her nails have become purpled. He calls this act “cruel and sudden. The flea’s blood is the blood of innocence. The flea cannot be called guilty except that it sucked a drop of blood of her. His lady love replies that neither 

he nor she is found in the flea. He admits it. He says that her fears of yielding to him are false. She does not lose her honour too. If she yields to his seduction, the honour 

she loses will be equal to the honour she lost in killing the flea. Thus, he tries to seduce his love.

4.."The Sun-Rising"

The poem The Sun Rising is a typical metaphysical Love Poem, in the sense that the emotive element of love is seen to have a rare intellectual basis and the poem has well maintained the intellectual restraint emotional depth and intellectual rationality. The poem contains the characteristics paradox of Donne's metaphysical love poetry. The way in which he challenges the sun and rebuke him with such terms 'old full' 'unruly' 'wretch' highly revealed the metaphysical nature of the poem.

In this respect the presence of metaphysical consists in this poem is noteworthy. The comparison of the lover and his beloved with the princess is brilliant and in it self used as a fine metaphysical consist. Later on the poets comparison between all the precious thing and 'mimic' and 'alchemie' are some of the examples of very unique metaphysical consist. Even the diction of the poem is Donne's metaphysical poetry. His versification is in tune with the singularity of his mood and feeling. The metrical swing is steered not by impulsive urge but regulated by intellectual originality.

Donne change his mind about the Sun throughout this poem. At first, Donne starts to ask why must the sun-start shining?He basically cries out that he wants to stay in bed a bit longer with his love.

The Sun Rising is a three stanza Poem with ten lines in each.It is written in iambic foot.

The words like, "Windows","Curtains","Pedantic",

"Prentices",""Eclipse","India of Spices","Alchemy" and "Warming"

Make this poem Metaphysical,because this words are not related directly to the theme of Love. This words are far-fetched images, making this poem Metaphysical.

Conclusion :

All types of poetry have specific qualities that allow us to group them together;but Metaphysical Poetry is a little bit different..The characteristics are highly intellectualized.The Metaphysical Poetry often mixed ordinary speech with Paradoxes and Puns.The result were strange,comparing unlikely things,such lover to a compass or the soul to a drop of dew.This weird comparison were called conceits.....Metaphysicals are use rather strange imagery, they use frequent paradox and contain extremely complicated thought.Metaphysical poetry is to consider how the poems are about both thought and feeling...

    Metaphysical poets created a new trend in history of English literature. These poems have been created in such a way that one must have enough knowledge to get the actual meaning.The creator of metaphysical poetry john Donne along with his followers is successful not only in that Period but also in the modern age. Metaphysical poetry takes an important place in the history of English literature for its unique versatility and it is popular among thousand of peoples till now….

Words : 2026

References : https://smartenglishnotes.com/2020/06/26/what-is-metaphysical-poetry-and-what-are-its-characteristics