A Brief Guide to Metaphysical Poets

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A Brief Guide to Metaphysical Poets

The term "metaphysical," as applied to English and continental European

poets of the seventeenth century, was used by Augustan poets John Dryden

and Samuel Johnson to reprove those poets for their "unnaturalness." As

Goethe wrote, however, "the unnatural, that too is natural," and the

metaphysical poets continue to be studied and revered for their intricacyand originality.

John Donne, along with similar but distinct poets such as George Herbert,

Andrew Marvell, and Henry Vaughn, developed a poetic style in which

philosophical and spiritual subjects were approached with reason and often

concluded in paradox. This group of writers established meditationbased

on the union of thought and feeling sought after in Jesuit Ignatian

meditationas a poetic mode.

The metaphysical poets were eclipsed in the eighteenth and nineteenth

centuries by romantic and Victorian poets, but twentieth century readers

and scholars, seeing in the metaphysicals an attempt to understand pressing

political and scientific upheavals, engaged them with renewed interest. In

his essay "The Metaphysical Poets," T. S. Eliot, in particular, saw in this

group of poets a capacity for "devouring all kinds of experience."

John Donne (1572 1631) was the most influential metaphysical poet. His

personal relationship with spirituality is at the center of most of his work,and the psychological analysis and sexual realism of his work marked a

dramatic departure from traditional, genteel verse. His early work, collected

in Satires and in Songs and Sonnets, was released in an era of religious

oppression. His Holy Sonnets, which contains many of Donnes most

enduring poems, was released shortly after his wife died in childbirth. The

intensity with which Donne grapples with concepts of divinity and mortality

in the Holy Sonnets is exemplified in "Sonnet X [Death, be not proud],"

"Sonnet XIV [Batter my heart, three persond God]," and "Sonnet XVII [Since

she whom I loved hath paid her last debt]."

George Herbert (1593 1633) and Andrew Marvell (1621 1678) were

remarkable poets who did not live to see a collection of their poems

published. Herbert, the son of a prominent literary patron to whom Donne

dedicated his Holy Sonnets, spent the last years of his short life as a rector

in a small town. On his deathbed, he handed his poems to a friend with the

request that they be published only if they might aid "any dejected poor

soul." Marvell wrote politically charged poems that would have cost him hisfreedom or his life had they been public. He was a secretary to John Milton,

and once Milton was imprisoned during the Restoration, Marvell

successfully petitioned to have the elder poet freed. His complex lyric and

satirical poems were collected after his death amid an air of secrecy.

John Donne

John Donne was born in 1572 in London, England. He is known as the

founder of the Metaphysical Poets, a term created by Samuel Johnson, aneighteenth-century English essayist, poet, and philosopher. The loosely

associated group also includes George Herbert, Richard Crashaw, Andrew

Marvell, and John Cleveland. The Metaphysical Poets are known for their

ability to startle the reader and coax new perspective through paradoxical

images, subtle argument, inventive syntax, and imagery from art,

philosophy, and religion using an extended metaphor known as a conceit.

Donne reached beyond the rational and hierarchical structures of the

seventeenth century with his exacting and ingenious conceits, advancing the

exploratory spirit of his time.

Donne entered the world during a period of theological and political unrest

for both England and France; a Protestant massacre occurred on Saint

Bartholomew's day in France; while in England, the Catholics were the

persecuted minority. Born into a Roman Catholic family, Donne's personal

relationship with religion was tumultuous and passionate, and at the center

of much of his poetry. He studied at both Oxford and Cambridge

Universities in his early teen years. He did not take a degree at either

school, because to do so would have meant subscribing to the Thirty-nineArticles, the doctrine that defined Anglicanism. At age twenty he studied


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law at Lincoln's Inn. Two years later he succumbed to religious pressure and

joined the Anglican Church after his younger brother, convicted for his

Catholic loyalties, died in prison. Donne wrote most of his love lyrics, erotic

verse, and some sacred poems in the 1590s, creating two major volumes of

work: Satires, and Songs and Sonnets.

In 1598, after returning from a two-year naval expedition against Spain,Donne was appointed private secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton. While sitting

in Queen Elizabeth's last Parliament in 1601, Donne secretly married Anne

More, the sixteen-year-old niece of Lady Egerton. Donne's father-in-law

disapproved of the marriage. As punishment, he did not provide a dowry for

the couple and had Donne briefly imprisoned.

This left the couple isolated and dependent on friends, relatives, and

patrons. Donne suffered social and financial instability in the years following

his marriage, exacerbated by the birth of many children. He continued towrite and published the Divine Poems in 1607. In Pseudo-Martyr, published

in 1610, Donne displayed his extensive knowledge of the laws of the Church

and state, arguing that Roman Catholics could support James I without

compromising their faith. In 1615, James I pressured him to enter the

Anglican Ministry by declaring that Donne could not be employed outside of

the Church. He was appointed Royal Chaplain later that year. His wife, aged

thirty-three, died in 1617, shortly after giving birth to their twelfth child, a

stillborn. The Holy Sonnets are also attributed to this phase of his life.

In 1621, he became dean of Saint Paul's Cathedral. In his later years,

Donne's writing reflected his fear of his inevitable death. He wrote his

private prayers, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, during a period of

severe illness and published them in 1624. His learned, charismatic, and

inventive preaching made him a highly influential presence in London. Best

known for his vivacious, compelling style and thorough examination of

mortal paradox, John Donne died in London in 1631.

A Selected Bibliography

Poetry

Satires (1593)

Songs and Sonnets (1601)

Divine Poems (1607)

Psevdo-Martyr (1610)

An Anatomy of the World (1611)

Ignatius his Conclaue (1611)

The Second Anniuersarie. Of The Progres of the Soule (1611)

An Anatomie of the World (1612)

Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions (1624)

Deaths Dvell (1632)

Ivvenilia (1633)

Poems (1633)

Sapientia Clamitans (1638)

Wisdome crying out to Sinners (1639)

Prose

Letters to Severall Persons of Honour (1651)

A Collection of Letters, Made by Sr Tobie Mathews, Kt. (1660)

Essays

A Sermon Vpon The VIII. Verse Of The I. Chapter of The Acts Of The Apostles (1622)

A Sermon Vpon The XV. Verse Of The XX. Chapter Of The Booke Of Ivdges (1622)

Encania. The Feast of Dedication. Celebrated At Lincolnes Inne, in a Sermon there

upon Ascension day (1623)

Three Sermons Upon Speciall Occasions (1623)

A Sermon, Preached To The Kings Mtie. At Whitehall (1625)

The First Sermon Preached To King Charles (1625)Fovre Sermons Upon Speciall Occasions (1625)

Five Sermons Vpon Speciall Occasions (1626)

A Sermon Of Commemoration Of The Lady Duers (1627)

Six Sermons Vpon Severall Occasions (1634)

LXXX Sermons (1640)

Biathanatos: A Declaration of that Paradoxe, or Thesis that Selfe-homicide is not so

(1644)

Naturally Sinne, that it may never be otherwise (1647)

Essayes in Divinity (1651)


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Andrew Marvell

Due to the inconsistencies and ambiguities within his work and the scarcity

of information about his personal life, Andrew Marvell has been a source of

fascination for scholars and readers since his work found recognition in the

early decades of the twentieth century. Born in 1621, Marvell grew up in

the Yorkshire town of Hull where his father, Reverend Andrew Marvell, wasa lecturer at Holy Trinity Church and master of the Charterhouse. At age

twelve Marvell began his studies at Trinity College, Cambridge. Four years

later two of Marvell's poems, one in Latin and one in Greek, were published

in an anthology of Cambridge poets. After receiving his B.A. in 1639, Marvell

stayed on at Trinity, apparently to complete an M.A. degree. In 1641,

however, his father drowned in the Hull estuary and Marvell abandoned his

studies. During the 1640's Marvell traveled extensively on the Continent,

adding Dutch, French, Spanish, and Italian, to his Latin and Greek missing

the English civil wars entirely.

Marvell spent most of the 1650's working as a tutor, first for Mary Fairfax,

daughter of a retired Cromwellian general, then for one of Cromwell's

wards. Scholars believe that Marvell's greatest lyrics were written during

this time. In 1657, due to Milton's efforts on his behalf, Marvell was

appointed Milton's Latin secretary, a post Marvell held until his election to

Parliament in 1660.

A well-known politician, Marvell held office in Cromwell's government andrepresented Hull to Parliament during the Restoration. His very public

positionin a time of tremendous political turmoil and upheavalalmost

certainly led Marvell away from publication. No faction escaped Marvell's

satirical eye: he criticized and lampooned both the court and parliament.

Indeed, had they been published during his lifetime, many of Marvell's more

famous poemsin particular, "Tom May's Death," an attack on the famous

Cromwellianwould have made him rather unpopular with Royalist and

republican alike.

Marvell used his political status to free Milton, who was jailed during the

Restoration, and quite possibly saved the elder poet's life. In the early years

of his tenure, Marvell made two extraordinary diplomatic journeys: to

Holland (1662-1663) and to Russia, Sweden, and Denmark (1663-1665). In

1678, after 18 years in Parliament, Marvell died rather suddenly of a fever.

Gossip of the time suggested that the Jesuits (a target of Marvell's satire)

had poisoned him. After his death he was remembered as a fierce and loyalpatriot.

Andrew Marvell (1621-1678), now considered one of the greatest poets of

the seventeenth century, published very little of his scathing political satire

and complex lyric verse in his lifetime. Although Marvell published a handful

of poems in anthologies, a collection of Marvell's work did not appear until

1681, three years after his death, when his nephew compiled and found a

publisher for Miscellaneous Poems. The circumstances surrounding the

publication of the volume aroused some suspicion: a person named "MaryMarvell," who claimed to be Marvell's wife, wrote the preface to the book.

"Mary Marvell" was, in fact, Mary PalmerMarvell's housekeeperwho

posed as Marvell's wife, apparently, in order to keep Marvell's small estate

from the creditors of his business partners. Her ruse, of course, merely

contributes to the mystery that surrounds the life of this great poet.

John Donne

John Donne was born in 1572 in London, England. He is known as thefounder of the Metaphysical Poets, a term created by Samuel Johnson, an

eighteenth-century English essayist, poet, and philosopher. The loosely

associated group also includes George Herbert, Richard Crashaw, Andrew

Marvell, and John Cleveland. The Metaphysical Poets are known for their

ability to startle the reader and coax new perspective through paradoxical

images, subtle argument, inventive syntax, and imagery from art,

philosophy, and religion using an extended metaphor known as a conceit.

Donne reached beyond the rational and hierarchical structures of the

seventeenth century with his exacting and ingenious conceits, advancing theexploratory spirit of his time.


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Donne entered the world during a period of theological and political unrest

for both England and France; a Protestant massacre occurred on Saint

Bartholomew's day in France; while in England, the Catholics were the

persecuted minority. Born into a Roman Catholic family, Donne's personal

relationship with religion was tumultuous and passionate, and at the center

of much of his poetry. He studied at both Oxford and CambridgeUniversities in his early teen years. He did not take a degree at either

school, because to do so would have meant subscribing to the Thirty-nine

Articles, the doctrine that defined Anglicanism. At age twenty he studied

law at Lincoln's Inn. Two years later he succumbed to religious pressure and

joined the Anglican Church after his younger brother, convicted for his

Catholic loyalties, died in prison. Donne wrote most of his love lyrics, erotic

verse, and some sacred poems in the 1590s, creating two major volumes of

work: Satires, and Songs and Sonnets.

In 1598, after returning from a two-year naval expedition against Spain,

Donne was appointed private secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton. While sitting

in Queen Elizabeth's last Parliament in 1601, Donne secretly married Anne

More, the sixteen-year-old niece of Lady Egerton. Donne's father-in-law

disapproved of the marriage. As punishment, he did not provide a dowry for

the couple and had Donne briefly imprisoned.

This left the couple isolated and dependent on friends, relatives, and

patrons. Donne suffered social and financial instability in the years followinghis marriage, exacerbated by the birth of many children. He continued to

write and published the Divine Poems in 1607. In Pseudo-Martyr, published

in 1610, Donne displayed his extensive knowledge of the laws of the Church

and state, arguing that Roman Catholics could support James I without

compromising their faith. In 1615, James I pressured him to enter the

Anglican Ministry by declaring that Donne could not be employed outside of

the Church. He was appointed Royal Chaplain later that year. His wife, aged

thirty-three, died in 1617, shortly after giving birth to their twelfth child, a

stillborn. The Holy Sonnets are also attributed to this phase of his life.

In 1621, he became dean of Saint Paul's Cathedral. In his later years,

Donne's writing reflected his fear of his inevitable death. He wrote his

private prayers, Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, during a period of

severe illness and published them in 1624. His learned, charismatic, and

inventive preaching made him a highly influential presence in London. Best

known for his vivacious, compelling style and thorough examination of

mortal paradox, John Donne died in London in 1631.

A Selected Bibliography

Poetry

Satires (1593)

Songs and Sonnets (1601)

Divine Poems (1607)

Psevdo-Martyr (1610)

An Anatomy of the World (1611)

Ignatius his Conclaue (1611)

The Second Anniuersarie. Of The Progres of the Soule (1611)

An Anatomie of the World (1612)

Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions (1624)

Deaths Dvell (1632)

Ivvenilia (1633)

Poems (1633)

Sapientia Clamitans (1638)

Wisdome crying out to Sinners (1639)

Prose

Letters to Severall Persons of Honour (1651)

A Collection of Letters, Made by Sr Tobie Mathews, Kt. (1660)

Essays

A Sermon Vpon The VIII. Verse Of The I. Chapter of The Acts Of The Apostles (1622)

A Sermon Vpon The XV. Verse Of The XX. Chapter Of The Booke Of Ivdges (1622)

Encania. The Feast of Dedication. Celebrated At Lincolnes Inne, in a Sermon there

upon Ascension day (1623)

Three Sermons Upon Speciall Occasions (1623)

A Sermon, Preached To The Kings Mtie. At Whitehall (1625)

The First Sermon Preached To King Charles (1625)

Fovre Sermons Upon Speciall Occasions (1625)

Five Sermons Vpon Speciall Occasions (1626)


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A Sermon Of Commemoration Of The Lady Duers (1627)

Six Sermons Vpon Severall Occasions (1634)

LXXX Sermons (1640)

Biathanatos: A Declaration of that Paradoxe, or Thesis that Selfe-homicide is not so

(1644)

Naturally Sinne, that it may never be otherwise (1647)

Essayes in Divinity (1651)

Metaphysical poets

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The metaphysical poets is a term 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.

Origin of the name

In the chapter on Abraham Cowley in his Lives of the Most Eminent English

Poets (1779-81), Samuel Johnson refers to the beginning of the seventeenth

century in which there "appeared a race of writers that may be termed the

metaphysical poets". This does not necessarily imply that he intended

metaphysical to be used in its true sense, in that he was probably referring

to a witticism of John Dryden,[1] who said of John Donne: "He affects the

metaphysics, not only in his satires, but in his amorous verses, where nature

only should reign; and perplexes the minds of the fair sex with nicespeculations of philosophy, when he should engage their hearts, and

entertain them with the softnesses of love. In this . . . Mr. Cowley has copied

him to a fault." Probably the only writer before Dryden to speak of a certain

metaphysical school or group of metaphysical poets is Drummond of

Hawthornden (15851649), who in one of his letters speaks of

"metaphysical Ideas and Scholastical Quiddities."[2]

Nor was Johnson's assessment of 'metaphysical poetry' particularly

flattering, since he wrote:

The metaphysical poets were men of learning, and, to show their

learning was their whole endeavour; but, unluckily resolving to

show it in rhyme, instead of writing poetry, they only wrote verses,

and, very often, such verses as stood the trial of the finger better

than of the ear; for the modulation was so imperfect, that they

were only found to be verses by counting the syllables... The most

heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together; nature and artare ransacked for illustrations, comparisons, and allusions; their

learning instructs, and their subtilty surprises; but the reader

commonly thinks his improvement dearly bought, and, though he

sometimes admires, is seldom pleased.[3]

There is no scholarly consensus regarding which seventeenth-century

English poets or poems may be regarded as in the 'metaphysical' genre.

Colin Burrow, writing for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography,

describes John Donne, George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, Andrew Marvell,and Richard Crashaw as the 'central figures' of metaphysical poetry.[4]

In 1921, Herbert Grierson published Metaphysical Lyrics and Poems of the

Seventeenth Century, which collected poems by Donne, Herbert, Vaughan,

Marvell, and Carew.[4] Helen Gardner's Metaphysical Poets anthology,

published in 1957, contained work by many more writers, including 'proto-

metaphysical' poets such as William Shakespeare and Sir Walter Ralegh, and

even poems by the Restoration libertine the Earl of Rochester.[4] As Burrow

remarks, in Gardner's anthology 'The all-thinking, all-feeling metaphysicalpoets were becoming virtually coextensive with seventeenth-century

poetry'.[4] By the 1980s many scholars described the 'metaphysical poets'

idea as being little more than an attempt by Eliot and his followers to

impose a 'high Anglican and royalist l iterary history' on seventeenth-century

English poetry.[4] But in Burrow's view, the 'metaphysical poets' label still

retains much value. For one thing, John Donne's poetry had considerable

influence on subsequent poets, who emulated his style. And there are

several instances in which seventeenth-century poets used the word

'metaphysical' in their work, meaning that Samuel Johnson's description hassome foundation in the poetry of the previous century.[4]


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Characteristics

Their style was characterized by wit and metaphysical conceitsfar-fetched

or unusual similes or metaphors, such as in Andrew Marvells comparison of

the soul with a drop of dew; in an expanded epigram format, with the use of

simple verse forms, octosyllabic couplets, quatrains or stanzas in which

length of line and rhyme scheme enforce the sense.[5] The specificdefinition of wit which Johnson applied to the school was: "...a kind of

discordia concors; a combination of dissimilar images, or discovery of occult

resemblances in things apparently unlike."[6] Their poetry diverged from

the style of their times, containing neither images of nature nor allusions to

classical mythology, as were common.[7] Several metaphysical poets,

especially John Donne, were influenced by Neo-Platonism. One of the

primary Platonic concepts found in metaphysical poetry is the idea that the

perfection of beauty in the beloved acted as a remembrance of perfect

beauty in the eternal realm. Though secular topics such as scientific orgeographical discoveries interested them, there was also a religious or

casuistic[clarification needed] element to some of their work, by which they

attempted to define their relationship with God[clarification needed].[8]

Critical opinion

Critical opinion of the school has been varied. Johnson claimed that "they

were not successful in representing or moving the affections" and that

neither "was the sublime more within their reach."[9] Generally, hiscriticism of the poets' style was grounded in his assertion that "Great

thoughts are always general," and that the metaphysical poets were too

particular in their search for novelty. He did concede, however, that

"they...sometimes stuck out unexpected truth" and that their work is often

intellectually, if not emotionally, stimulating.[10] The group was to have a

significant influence on 20th-century poetry, especially through T. S. Eliot,

whose essay The Metaphysical Poets (1921) praised the very anti-Romantic

and intellectual qualities of which Johnson and his contemporaries had

disapproved, and helped bring their poetry back into favour withreaders.[11]

A Brief Guide to Metaphysical Poets

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