THE MAIN FEATURES OF THE METAPHYSICAL POETRY ILLUSTRATED BY JOHN DONNE
THE MAIN FEATURES OF THE METAPHYSICAL POETRY
ILLUSTRATED BY JOHN DONNE
The term "metaphysical poetry" is used to describe a certain type of 17th century poetry. Metaphysical poetry is concerned with the whole experience of man. It means that the poetry is about showing knowledge and thoughts from different areas of experience, especially about love, romantic and sensual; about man's relationship with God and about pleasure, learning and art.
Metaphysical poems are lyric poems characterised by use of wit, irony and wordplay. Wit and conceit were both aspects of a mental set shared by writers looking for connections between things.
As well as manipulation of ideas, wit could be displayed in verbal expression. Compression and brevity were part of a poetic fashion called "strong lines". Wordplay and brevity were all aspects of "wit".
Conceit is a poetic idea, usually a metaphor. There can be conventional ideas, where there are expected metaphors. It is an idea or concept expressed in a unusual way. Typical metaphysical conceits come from a wide variety of areas of knowledge: medieval philosophy and alchemy; mythology, government ("she is the state, he is the prince" from Donne's " The Sun Rising" ), travelling ( Donne's " Go and Catch a Falling Star" )...
Some characteristics of metaphysical poetry:
a tendency to psychological analysis of emotion of love and religion an ability for imagery that is novel, unpoetical and sometimes shocking, drawn from the common place ( actual life ) or the remote ( erudite sources), including the extended metaphor of the "metaphysical conceit" form: frequently an argument ( with the poet's lover, with God..) meter: often rugged, not sweet or smooth like Elizabethan verse the best metaphysical poetry is honest, unconventional, and reveals the poet's sense of the complexities and contradictions of life. It is intellectual, analytical, psychological, usually it is absorbed in
ILLUSTRATED BY JOHN DONNE
The term "metaphysical poetry" is used to describe a certain type of 17th century poetry. Metaphysical poetry is concerned with the whole experience of man. It means that the poetry is about showing knowledge and thoughts from different areas of experience, especially about love, romantic and sensual; about man's relationship with God and about pleasure, learning and art.
Metaphysical poems are lyric poems characterised by use of wit, irony and wordplay. Wit and conceit were both aspects of a mental set shared by writers looking for connections between things.
As well as manipulation of ideas, wit could be displayed in verbal expression. Compression and brevity were part of a poetic fashion called "strong lines". Wordplay and brevity were all aspects of "wit".
Conceit is a poetic idea, usually a metaphor. There can be conventional ideas, where there are expected metaphors. It is an idea or concept expressed in a unusual way. Typical metaphysical conceits come from a wide variety of areas of knowledge: medieval philosophy and alchemy; mythology, government ("she is the state, he is the prince" from Donne's " The Sun Rising" ), travelling ( Donne's " Go and Catch a Falling Star" )...
Some characteristics of metaphysical poetry:
a tendency to psychological analysis of emotion of love and religion an ability for imagery that is novel, unpoetical and sometimes shocking, drawn from the common place ( actual life ) or the remote ( erudite sources), including the extended metaphor of the "metaphysical conceit" form: frequently an argument ( with the poet's lover, with God..) meter: often rugged, not sweet or smooth like Elizabethan verse the best metaphysical poetry is honest, unconventional, and reveals the poet's sense of the complexities and contradictions of life. It is intellectual, analytical, psychological, usually it is absorbed in