The
metaphysical poets were a loose group of British lyric poets of the 17th century, who shared an interest in
metaphysicalMetaphysics investigates principles of reality transcending those of any particular science. Cosmology and ontology are traditional branches of metaphysics. It is concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world...
concerns and a common way of investigating them. The label "metaphysical" was given much later by
Samuel JohnsonSamuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, novelist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. Johnson was a devout Anglican and political conservative, and has been...
in his
Life of CowleyAbraham Cowley was an English poet born in the City of London late in 1618. He was one of the leading English poets of the seventeenth century, with 14 printings of his Works published between 1668 and 1721....
. These poets themselves did not form a school or start a movement; most of them did not even know or read each other. Their style was characterized by
witWit is a form of intellectual humour, and a wit is someone skilled in making witty remarks. Forms of wit include the quip and repartee.- Forms of wit :...
, subtle argumentations, "metaphysical
conceitAside from its common usage, signifying "excessive pride" , in literary terms, a conceit is an extended metaphor with a complex logic that governs apoetic passage or entire poem...
s", and/or an unusual
simileA simile is a figure of speech comparing two unlike things, often introduced with the word "like" or "as". Even though similes and metaphors are both forms of comparison, similes allow the two ideas to remain distinct in spite of their similarities, whereas metaphors compare two things without...
or
metaphorA metaphor is a figure of speech concisely comparing two things, saying that one is the other. The English metaphor derives from the 16th c...
such as in
Andrew MarvellAndrew Marvell was an English metaphysical poet, Parliamentarian, and the son of a Church of England clergyman . As a metaphysical poet, he is associated with John Donne and George Herbert...
’s comparison of the soul with a drop of dew.
The
metaphysical poets were a loose group of British lyric poets of the 17th century, who shared an interest in
metaphysicalMetaphysics investigates principles of reality transcending those of any particular science. Cosmology and ontology are traditional branches of metaphysics. It is concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world...
concerns and a common way of investigating them. The label "metaphysical" was given much later by
Samuel JohnsonSamuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, novelist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. Johnson was a devout Anglican and political conservative, and has been...
in his
Life of CowleyAbraham Cowley was an English poet born in the City of London late in 1618. He was one of the leading English poets of the seventeenth century, with 14 printings of his Works published between 1668 and 1721....
. These poets themselves did not form a school or start a movement; most of them did not even know or read each other. Their style was characterized by
witWit is a form of intellectual humour, and a wit is someone skilled in making witty remarks. Forms of wit include the quip and repartee.- Forms of wit :...
, subtle argumentations, "metaphysical
conceitAside from its common usage, signifying "excessive pride" , in literary terms, a conceit is an extended metaphor with a complex logic that governs apoetic passage or entire poem...
s", and/or an unusual
simileA simile is a figure of speech comparing two unlike things, often introduced with the word "like" or "as". Even though similes and metaphors are both forms of comparison, similes allow the two ideas to remain distinct in spite of their similarities, whereas metaphors compare two things without...
or
metaphorA metaphor is a figure of speech concisely comparing two things, saying that one is the other. The English metaphor derives from the 16th c...
such as in
Andrew MarvellAndrew Marvell was an English metaphysical poet, Parliamentarian, and the son of a Church of England clergyman . As a metaphysical poet, he is associated with John Donne and George Herbert...
’s comparison of the soul with a drop of dew. Several metaphysical poets, especially
John DonneJohn Donne, "dun" was an English Jacobean poet, preacher and a major representative of the metaphysical poets of the period. His works are notable for their realistic and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, satires and...
, were influenced by NeoPlatonism. 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. In a famous definition
Georg Lukács----György Lukács was a Hungarian Marxist philosopher and literary critic. Most scholars consider him to be the founder of the tradition of Western Marxism...
, the Hungarian Marxist critic, described the school's common trait of "looking beyond the palpable" and "attempting to erase one's own image from the mirror in front so that it should reflect the
not-now and
not-here" as foreshadowing
existentialismLike “rationalism” and “empiricism,” “existentialism” is a term that belongs to intellectual history. Its definition is thus to some extent one of historical convenience...
(as quoted in
The Aesthetics of Georg Lukács by B. Királyfalvi (1975)). Though secular subjects drew them (in particular matter drawn from the new science, from the expanding geographical horizons of the period, and from dialectic) there was also a strong casuistical element to their work, defining their relationship with God.
Origin of the name
In
Life of Cowley 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 DrydenJohn Dryden was an influential English poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright who dominated the literary life of Restoration England to such a point that the period came to be known in literary circles as the Age of Dryden.-Early life:Dryden was born in the village rectory of Aldwincle...
about
John DonneJohn Donne, "dun" was an English Jacobean poet, preacher and a major representative of the metaphysical poets of the period. His works are notable for their realistic and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, satires and...
. "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 nice speculations 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 (1585-1649), who in one of his letters speaks of "metaphysical Ideas and Scholastical Quiddities." The first mention of "metaphysical poets" comes in Johnson's
The Lives of the Poets (1781). Their poetry was influenced greatly by the changing times, new sciences and the new found debauched scene of the 17th century.
Metaphysical poets
- George Chapman
George Chapman was an English dramatist, translator, and poet. He was a classical scholar, and his work shows the influence of Stoicism. Chapman has been identified as the Rival Poet of Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Minto, and as an anticipator of the Metaphysical Poets...
(c. 1559–1634)
- John Donne
John Donne, "dun" was an English Jacobean poet, preacher and a major representative of the metaphysical poets of the period. His works are notable for their realistic and sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, satires and...
(1572–1631)
- George Herbert
George Herbert was a Welsh poet, orator and priest. Being born into an artistic and wealthy family, he received a good education which led to his holding prominent positions at Cambridge University and Parliament. As a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, England, George Herbert excelled in...
(1593–1633)
- Andrew Marvell
Andrew Marvell was an English metaphysical poet, Parliamentarian, and the son of a Church of England clergyman . As a metaphysical poet, he is associated with John Donne and George Herbert...
(1621–1678)
- Saint Robert Southwell (c. 1561–1595)
- Thomas Traherne
Thomas Traherne, MA was an English poet and religious writer. His style is often considered Metaphysical.-Life:...
(1636 or 1637 – 1674
- Henry Vaughan
Henry Vaughan was a Welsh physician and metaphysical poet.Vaughan and his twin brother, the hermetic philosopher and alchemist Thomas Vaughan, were the sons of Thomas Vaughan and Denise Morgan of 'Trenewydd', Newton, in Brecknockshire, Wales.Vaughan spent most of his life in the village of...
(1622–1695)
The following poets have also been sometimes considered metaphysical poets:
- Thomas Carew
Thomas Carew was an English poet.He was the son of Sir Matthew Carew, master in chancery, and his wife, Alice Ingpenny, widow of Sir John Rivers, Lord Mayor of the City of London...
(1595–1640)
- Abraham Cowley
Abraham Cowley was an English poet born in the City of London late in 1618. He was one of the leading English poets of the seventeenth century, with 14 printings of his Works published between 1668 and 1721....
(1618–1667),
- Richard Crashaw
Richard Crashaw , English poet, styled "the divine," was part of the Seventeenth-century Metaphysical School of poets.-Life:...
(c. 1613–1649),
- Edward Herbert
Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury was a British soldier, diplomat, historian, poet and religious philosopher.-Early life:...
(1583–1648)
- Richard Leigh
- Katherine Philips
Katherine Philips , was an Anglo-Welsh poet.-Biography:Born in London, she was daughter of John Fowler, a Presbyterian, and a merchant of Bucklersbury, London. Philips is said to have read the Bible through before she was five years old. Additionally, she acquired remarkable fluency in several...
(1632–1664),
- Sir John Suckling
Sir John Suckling, was an English poet and one prominent figure among those renowned for careless gayety, wit, and all the accomplishments of a Cavalier poet, and the supposed inventor of the card game Cribbage...
(1609–1642)
- Edward Taylor
-Biography:Taylor was born in Leicestershire, England, and emigrated to the Massachusetts Bay Colony in America in 1668. During his voyage to America, Taylor chronicled his Atlantic crossing from April 26, 1668, to July 5, 1671, in his now-published Diary. Upon graduating from Harvard, he became a...
(c. 1642–1729)
- Anne Bradstreet
Anne Bradstreet was an English-American writer, the first notable American poet, and the first woman to be published in Colonial America. Her work was very influential to Puritans in her time.-Biography:...
(c. 1612–1672)
The group was to have a significant influence on 20th-century poetry, especially through
T. S. EliotThomas Stearns Eliot, OM , was a poet, playwright, and literary critic. He received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1948. Among his most famous writings are The Love Song of J...
, whose essay
The Metaphysical Poets (1921) helped bring their poetry back into favour with readers.
Further reading
External links