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(Spider-
web).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