Assignment of Metaphysical Poetry

Name:- Ekta Jayswal

Respected Sir,
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Class:- M.A. Sem: 1

Roll No:- 13

Topic:- Metaphysical Poetry

Paper No:- 1 [The Renaissance Literature]

Enrolment No:- PG 2069108420180027

Year:- 2017/19

Email ID:-ektajayswal12@gmail.com

Submitted to:- Dr. Dilip Barad
             S.B.Gardi English Department .        
                      M.K.B.U.

**WHAT IS A METAPHYSICAL?

☆Metaphysical word made of two words,
#Meta --       Beyond
#Physical -- Our Surrounding

#It means the poetry that is having a particular that is beyond  this article word..


**ORIGIN OF THE NAME:-

¤ ‘Metaphysical poets’ the name given to a diverse group of 17th‐century English poets whose work is notable for its ingenious use of intellectual and theological concepts in surprising conceits, strange paradoxes and far‐fetched imagery.

¤ The word metaphysics is formed from the Greek meta ta phusika, a title which, about the year A.D. 70, was related by Andronicus of Rhodes to that collection of Aristotelian treatises which since then goes by the name of the "Metaphysics"...


**AGE:-

¤The term "metaphysical" when applied to poetry has a long and interesting history. The term "Metaphysical Poet" was first coined by the critic Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) in his book ‘Life of Cowley’ and he used it as a disparaging term. Earlier, John Dryden had also been critical of the group of poets he grouped together as too proud of their wit. Johnson and Dryden valued the clarity, restraint and shapeliness of the poets of Augustan Rome (which is why some 18th century poets are called "Augustan," and therefore were antagonistic towards poets of the mid-17th century.

¤The Metaphysical poets were out of critical favor for the 18th and 19th centuries (obviously, the Romantic poets found little in this heavily intellectualized poetry). At the end of the 19th century and in the beginning of the 20th century, interest in this group picked up, and especially important was T.S. Eliot's famous essay "The Metaphysical Poets" Interest peaked this century with the New Critics school around mid-century, and now is tempering off a bit, though Donne, the original "Big Name" is being superceded now by interest in George Herbert, who's religious seeking and questioning seems to be hitting a critical nerve.


**WHAT IS METAPHYSICAL POETRY?

¤ Metaphysical poetry is concerned with the whole experience of man, but the intelligence, learning and seriousness of the poets means that the poetry is about the profound areas of experience especially - about love, romantic and sensual; about man's relationship with God - the eternal perspective, and, to a less extent, about pleasure, learning and art. Metaphysical means dealing with the relationship between spirit to matter or the ultimate nature of reality..

¤ Metaphysical poems are lyric poems. They are brief but intense meditations, characterized by striking use of wit, irony and wordplay. Beneath the formal structure (of rhyme, meter and stanza) is the underlying (and often hardly less formal) structure of the poem's argument. Note that there may be two (or more) kinds of argument in a poem. In “To His Coy Mistress” the explicit argument (Marvell's request that the coy lady yield to his passion) is a stalking horse for the more serious argument about the transitoriness of pleasure. The outward levity conceals (barely) a deep seriousness of intent. You would be able to show how this theme of carpe diem (“seize the day”) is made clear in the third section of the poem.

☆ Metaphysical poetry occupies an unique place in the history of English poetry.. It was written in the Post-Shakespearean era;during the age of Milton and it continued upto the beginning of the Restoration Age.

☆ The main exponent of the metaphysical poetry were John Donne; who was the pioneer. The poet who followed Donne's style of writing were George Herbert, Andrew ohn Donne and his followers came to be known as the metaphysical school of poetry. There are certain features which differentiate thier poetry from the poetry of former poets.

** METAPHYSICAL POETRY'S FEATURES ARE:-

¤ All the metaphysical poets made a conscious attempt to see that their poetry differs in the style of writing from the style of former poems. They didn't want to follow the foot step of the Elizabethan's poets.

¤ One critic named Helen.C.White justified by saying if they had continued writing poetry in the same manner,their poetry would have been rejected by the readers. The reason was the printing facilities was available and so, people had cultivated reading habbit..

¤ All the metaphysical poets were the degree holders, they were the man of learning and university graduates.They made a conscious attempt to see that,their learning and scholarship are reflected in poetry.

¤ Almost all the metaphysical poets dependent upon the far-fetched images for their poetry. They selected images from those fields which have nothing common with poetry. The images which they used belong to the field of SCIENCE,  ENGINEERING, AGRICULTURE, BIO-LOGY,ARCHITECTURE, POLITICAL-SCIENCE and many other fields. Far-Fetched images proved to be an remarkable feature of their poetry.and It is to be found in all the metaphysical poets.

¤ It was Dr. Samuel Johnson, whi while writing the life sketch of Abraham Cowley; used for the first time the term, "Metaphysical Poetry" for the poetry of Donne and his school. It was in negative sense because he wanted to criticised the poetry of Donne and his Followers.

¤ Dr. Johnson has highlighted one remarkable drawback of the metaphysical poetry .. He mentioned that, the metaphysical poetry stood; a trial of their finger but, not the trial of their ear..

¤ Lateron, with the passing of time this word became a Word of Praise for the Metaphysical Poetry...

** ABOUT JOHN DONNE:-

John Donne, Founder of Metaphysical Poetry

All conversations about metaphysical poetry must start with John Donne. He is considered as the founder of metaphysical poetry and master of the metaphysical conceit.

John Donne was born in 1572  in London, England. John Donne was not only a poet but a lawyer, priest and satirist. His poetry reflects this diversity, and his works are just as religious as they are funny. Donne explored the idea of religion his whole life, and despite being a priest, spent a lot of time examining the idea of true religion. We can trace these questions back to his upbringing. Donne was born and raised a Roman Catholic when it was illegal to be Catholic in England. He lost many relatives to martyrdom - they were either exiled or executed.

Many literary critics describe Donne's style as inventive, strong, dramatic and sensual. The paradoxes of his life surely affected the paradoxes in his poetry. He was considered a womanizer, even though he was religious. He wrote as many erotic poems as he did secular ones. Even though his metaphysical poems were witty, they were cynical and ironic as well.

** METAPHYSICAL POET'S:-
            
        *Major Poets..*

*John Donne           [1572 - 1631]
*Henry Vaughan    [1622 - 1695]
*Andrew Marvell   [1621 - 1678]
*Abraham Cowley [1618 - 1667]
*George Herbert    [1593 - 1633]
*Richard Crashaw [1613 - 1649]
*John Cleveland     [1613 - 1658]
*Thomas Traherne [1636/1637 - 1674]
*Saint Robert Southwell [1561 - 1595]

          *Minor Poets..*

*Anne Bradstreet   [1612 - 1672]
*Thomas Carew      [1595 - 1640]
*George Chapman  [1559 - 1634]
*John Hall                [1627 - 1656]
*Edward Herbert    [1583 - 1648]
*Richard Leigh        [1649 - 1728]
*Katherine  Philips [1632 - 1664]
*Sir John Suckling  [1609 - 1642]

** MAJOR THEME IN METAPHYSICAL POETRY:-

*Spiritual Love & Physical Love
*Fidelity
*Paradox
*Religion
*Interconnection with Humanity
*Death


**JOHN DONNE'S WELL-KNOWN POEMS ARE:-

*"Death Not Be Proud"
*"The Dream"
*"The Flea"
*"Sweetest Love, I do not go"
*"The Sun Rising"
*"The Ecstasy"
*"The Anniversary"

**BRIEF DISCUSSION ABOUT POEMS:-


1.."Death be not proud"..........

Death be not proud, is one of the holy sonnet. In the present sonnet Donne wants to show that death is not something to be affraid off..Of course some people considered death mighty and dangerous but, in reality not..

This is one of Donne's more well known poem. The poem speaks of how heaven is 'Eternal'; Death in this poem is personified. He uses 'rest' and 'sleep' to speak of how they are images of what Death is like.... The poet states that death shouldn't be proud because,  Death is nothing except one short sleep and after that short sleep we getup once again with a new body,new life and new enthusiasm. If Death is accepted in such manner, there will not be any Death at all and Death itself would died..

This poem is made up of only one stanza,it has fourteen lines..

2.."The Dream".....

This is a poem about a Dream, which Donne had. He was greatly in love,buy when he awoke he was still in great love.However, he realized that love is not without pain and fear, Nonetheless, those feelings will not break his spirit and he will continue to dream of how great Love is and can be.

"The Dream" is a two stanzas poem with twenty lines in the first and ten in the second stanza.

3.."The Flea"......

The poem "The Flea" is perhaps one of Donne's best known works.

In this poem, Donne speaks of his love and tells her to look at the Flea and significant it is. That is the thing which she denies to him. He states that the Flea sucked both of their bloods and now they are together inside the Flea.He states that it is more than what they would do.The women then moves to kill the Flea, but the speaker asks her to save their three lives within it. He then asks her what the Flea's sin was!

Donne's use of far - fetched images like- 'Flea','Wall of jet', 'Cloister', 'Nail' and 'Grudge'.Make this poem- Metaphysical poem in a real sense of term..


4.."The Sun-Rising"

Donne change his mind about the Sun throughout this poem. At first, Donne starts to ask why must the sun-start shining?He basically cries out that he wants to stay in bed a bit longer with his love.

The Sun Rising is a three stanza Poem with ten lines in each.It is written in iambic foot.

The words like, "Windows","Curtains","Pedantic",
"Prentices",""Eclipse","India of Spices","Alchemy" and "Warming"
Make this poem Metaphysical,because this words are not related directly to the theme of Love. This words are far-fetched images, making this poem Metaphysical..

5.. "Sweetest Love,I do not go".....

This poem dealt with the theme of love.Poet telling his love that he has to leave for a while,but he won't be gone long and she shouldn't distrust him on where he is about to go. Poet convinces his beloved that even death can not separate true lovers.

This poem is  made up of five stanzas.Donne keeps the rhyme in this poem by using both his rhyme and meter structure.

6.."The Ecstasy".....

The Ecstasy is one of John Donne's most popular poems;which expresses his unique and unconventional ideas about Love.. The theme of this poem, is that pure,spiritual or real love can exist only in the bonds of souls established by the bodies; for Donne true love only exists when both bodies and souls are inextricably united. Donne criticised the platonic lover who excludes the body and emphasizes the soul.

7.."The Anniversary"....

The poem talks about the Anniversary of Donne and his love. He begins by stating that as the years go by his love only grows..
The poem speaks of how even after death,they will still be together... He states that how they feel royalty just by being together...

This poem has three stanzas,ten lines in each stanza..Its also known as rhyming couplets.

**CONCLUSION:-

¤ All types of poetry have specific qualities that allow us to group them together;but Metaphysical Poetry is a little bit different..The characteristics are highly intellectualized.The Metaphysical Poetry often mixed ordinary speech with Paradoxes and Puns.The result were strange,comparing unlikely things,sucha lover to a compass or the soul to a drop of dew.This weird comparison were called conceits.....Metaphysicals are use rather strange imagery, they use frequent paradox and contain extremely complicated thought.Metaphysical poetry is to consider how the poems are about both thought and feeling...

¤ Metaphysical poets created a new trend in history of English literature. These poems have been created in such a way that one must have enough knowledge to get the actual meaning.The creator of metaphysical poetry john Donne along with his followers is successful not only in that Period but also in the modern age. Metaphysical poetry takes an important place in the history of English literature for its unique versatility and it is popular among thousand of peoples till now....

##WORK CITED BY:-

*www.englishhelp4.blogspot.in*

*www.poemofquotes.com*



**THANK YOU**...... 😊