Metaphysical Poetry Essay

The metaphysical poets is a term coined by the poet and critic jakes Dryden to describe a loose group of British lyric poets of the seventeenth century, whose work was characterized by the inventive use of conceits, and by speculation virtu tout ensembley topics such(prenominal) as love or religion. These poets were not formally consort most of them did not even know or read from each one other.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 poetize forms, octosyllabic couplets, quatrains or stanzas in which length of line and rhyme turning away enforce the sense. The specific definition of wit which backsideson applied to the school was a kind of discordia concors a combination of dissimilar images, or discovery of obscure resemblances in things apparently unlike. Their poetry diverged from the style of their times, containing neither images of nature nor allusions to neoclassical mythology, as were common. Several metaphysical poets, especially John Donne, were influenced by Neo-Platonism. wiz of the primary Platonic concepts found in metaphysical poetry is the mind that the perfection of beauty in the beloved acted as a retrospection of perfect beauty in the eternal realm. Though sacrilegious topics such as scientific or geographical discoveries interested them, there was similarly a religious or casuistic element to some of their work, by which they attempted to define their relationship with God.John Donne (between 24 January and 19 June 1572 31 March 1631) was an English poet, satirist, lawyer and a cleric in the church of England. He is considered the pre-eminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His works are storied for their strong, lascivious style and include sonnets, love poetry, religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, sa tires and sermons. His poetry is noted for its vibrancy of language and inventiveness of metaphor, especially compared to that of his contemporaries. Donnes style is characterised by abrupt openings and various paradoxes, ironies and dislocations.These features, along with his frequent dramatic or habitual speech rhythms, his tense syntax and his tough eloquence, were both a reception against the smoothness of conventional Elizabethan poetry and an adaptation into English of European baroque and mannerist techniques. His early career was marked by poetry that outwear immense knowledge of British society and he met that knowledge with not bad(p) criticism. Another important theme in Donnes poetry is the report of true religion, something that he spent much time considering and theorising about.He wrote secular poems as well as erotic and love poems. He is in particular famous for his mastery of metaphysical conceits. A Burnt ShipOut of a pink-slipped ship, which by no wayBut d rowning could be rescued from the flame,Some men leapd forth, and ever as they cameNear the foes ships, did by their shot decaySo all were lost, which in the ship were found,They in the sea being destroy, they in the burnt ship drownd. John Donne A Lame BeggarI am unable, yon beggar cries,To stand, or move if he say true, he lies. John Donne.