Metaphysical Poets Metaphysical poetry is concerned with the experience of human beings, 1) of love, 2) Romance, 3) Sensuality, 4) Relationships, 5) Learning and art. Some of the greatest Metaphysical poets include: John Donne, George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, Richard Crashaw, and Thomas Traherne. Read more about the Metaphysical Poets. Feature of Metaphysical poetry 1) The use of wit:.the use of wit- elaborate figurative treatments of a particular subject- and employing epigram, paradox, contraries, or personified abstractions. 2) feelings, mainly love, sorrow, revenge, seduction and many others. In the three poems that we are looking at we only see seduction, revenge and love. 3) conceit is a main feature of metaphysical poetry. 4) Imagery from different areas,(or branches of learning)classical society,politics,navigation, religion, philosophy (yes alchemy, if you like) and more everyday things, like fleas! The writing of Metaphysical poets is very self-conscious. 1. Concentration and conciseness: This feature is an important quality of metaphysical poetry in general and in Donne's poetry in particular. It is closely interwoven. It has a short scene which is witty and clever. The reader is held to an idea. He
is not invited to pause upon a passage. As Keat's advice, he says:Wander with it, and muse upon it, and reflect upon it, andbring home to it, and prophesy upon it, and dream upon it.
So in metaphysical poems if we read the whole poem, without concentrate to the conceits, mean idea, yes it will be beauty, but I think to do so means to miss the special pleasure that metaphysical poetry has to give. A metaphysical poem tends to be brief, and is always closely woven. Like thehome of Spider(Spiderweb).Forexample"TheEcstasy" Expanded Epigram: John Donne says:when it is made, can have nothing, no syllable taken from it, nor added to it.Also Ben Jonson says:Strong-lined Which mean, no word is wasted, nothing written in detail. It is self-sufficient. You cannot omit, nor add to it. Most of metaphysical poetry sentences used as proverbs. Sometimes you couldn't understand the meaning, but after reading, and with its conceits, the poem will be useful and acceptable. Almost all the poets of metaphysical poetry tend to write in epigrammatical style. The epigram
helped to form the taste for witty poetry. For example "Go and Catch a Falling Star".. Abrupt Opening:Like " Go and Catch a Falling Star"Or as in "The SunRising".Where the poet directly and suddenly attack thesun. 8). Highly Philosophical: It concerns with the fundamental problems of people. 9). Concrete Images: All the images are visual and concretized. 10) Paradoxes, antithesis, pun and wit. It is full of paradoxes, a word has several meaning. The reader recognized that it is antithetic and witty. 11) .Dry Humour, use of hyperbole. When the poet said in "The Sun Rising" that if his beloved looks at the sun, her sights will make the sun blind. 12.Elaboration of Figures of Speech. Figures of speech in metaphysical poetry are decorated. It is full of images, metaphors, similes, hyperbole and soon. 13. Sensuous Apprehension of Thoughts, and transformation of thoughts into feeling. The poet expresses his feeling through his thoughts. 14. Unified Sensibility.T.S. Eliot says that "the unification of sensibility".Thoughts and feeling are unified. 15. Rapid Associate of Thoughts.Thoughts with in thoughts, image within image and conceit within
conceit. 16. Juxtaposition of Levity and Seriousness. The poem is funny at the surface but in its deep structure full of seriousness. 17. Excessive Intellectualism. Ideas expressed more than feeling. The mind tries to understand the idea likely, hardly. 18) Roughness of Versification: Its style is harsh, colloquial, conversational and voice-speaking. The poet speaks to another one. The poem is colloquially and conversationally
