Notes on Metaphysical Poets/Elizabethan World Order/Scientific Beliefs

The Metaphysical (other worldly) poets were a group of writers from roughly
Elizabethan times (16th-17th Century England) that included poets such as Jonson,
Herbert, Marvell and others, but their chief spokesperson is considered to be John Donne.

Metaphysical is a term relating to the ultimate causes and the nature of things and
thus the otherworldly. Metaphysical poetry is characterized by difficult
arguments/stanzas, far-fetched allusions/metaphors, forceful language and passionate
tones. The metaphysical conceit or witare terms often used to describe the type of
metaphor used by these poets. To quote Donne, his poetry is often seen as itchy
outbreaks of far-fetched wit.

Elizabethan World Order (the great change of being) is a term referring to the
world outlook of Elizabethan people, one that was prescribed by a belief in a cosmic
hierarchy stretching from God to the lowest of animals and plants. Everything in the
universe was arranged in importance or order; ordinary humans were below the
monarchs, clergy and angels but above the beasts and nature. This belief system was seen
as Gods divine purpose (Providence, Fortune, Pre-Destination, that people were born
into their certain of life. SO if you were born a farmer thats what you were meant to be)
and represented by the Great Chain of Being that connected all living/nonliving things
physically and spiritually eventually to God through intersecting spheres and planes. For
more on this concept, see EMW Tillyards The Elizabethan World Picture.

What is also fascinating about these times are the prevailing scientific beliefs,
chiefly that the Earth was the center of the universe, following the Ptolemaic system
(Ptolemy Greek astronomer, died 165) which stayed in vogue until Copernicus (died
1543) theorized the sun was the center of the universe. Galileo (died 1642) furthered
Copernicus ideas (and was found a heretic and subjected to house arrest until his death,
he was subversive, not abiding to their theories.). By 1687, Newtons laws of gravity
were taking hold as scientific belief, fuelling the mechanizations of the Industrial
Revolution. Darwins Origin of Species (1859) and Einsteins theory of relativity (1905)
what came next, significantly altering many peoples belief systems. Life was seen in an
imperial form (only what can be seen and measured, scientific.)