Metaphysical poetry is a group of poems that share common characteristics: they are all highly intellectualized, use rather strange imagery, use frequent paradox and contain extremely complicated thought. In this blog we will explore the Metaphysical poetry and its characteristics.

Introduction:

Literary critic and poet Samuel Johnson first coined the term 'metaphysical poetry' in his book Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets (1179-1781). In the book, Johnson wrote about a group of 17th-century British poets that included John Donne, George Herbert, Richard Crashaw, Andrew Marvell and Henry Vaughan. He noted how the poets shared many common characteristics, especially ones of wit and elaborated style. What Does Metaphysical Mean? The word 'meta' means 'after,' so the literal translation of 'metaphysical' is 'after the physical.' Basically, metaphysics deals with questions that can't be explained by science. It questions the nature of reality in a philosophical way.

Common Metaphysical Questions:

Metaphysics can cover a broad range of topics from religious to consciousness; however, all the questions about metaphysics ponder the nature of reality. And of course, there is no one correct answers to any of these questions. Metaphysics is about exploration and philosophy, not about science and math

Characteristics of Metaphysical Poetry:

The group of metaphysical poets that we mentioned earlier is obviously not the only poets or philosophers or writers that deal with metaphysical questions. There are other more specific characteristics that prompted Johnson to place the 17th-century poets together.

Perhaps the most common characteristic is that metaphysical poetry contained large doses of wit. In fact, although the poets were examining serious questions about the existence of God or whether a human could possibly perceive the world, the poets were sure to ponder those questions with humour.

Metaphysical poetry also sought to shock the reader and wake him or her up from his or her normal existence in order to question the unquestionable.

The poetry often mixed ordinary speech with paradoxes and puns. The results were strange, comparing unlikely things, such as lovers to a compass or the soul to a drop of dew. These weird comparisons were called conceits.

Metaphysical poetry also explored a few common themes. They all had a religious sentiment.

 

 In addition, many of the poems explored the theme of carpe diem (seize the day) and investigated the humanity of life. One great way to analyze metaphysical poetry is to consider how the poems are about both thought and feeling. Think about it. How could you possibly write a poem about the existence of God if you didn't have some emotional reaction to such an enormous, life altering question?

 Metaphysical poetry investigates the relation between rational, logical argument on the one hand and intuition or “mysticism” on the other, often depicted with sensuous detail.

 Metaphysical poetry is considered highly ambiguous due to high intellect and knowledge of metaphysical poets.

Devices used in Metaphysical Poetry:

Metaphysical poets like John Donne use complex, dramatic expressions and a variety of literary devices like extended conceits, paradoxes, and imagery in colloquial and personal language that challenges ideas of morality, traditional love, and carnality.

It is intellectually inventive even jarring sometimes because it mixes and links two unlike things to create extended metaphors and anecdotes that is unique in comparison to previous poets of his era particularly Edmund Spenser.

 

 Metaphysical conceits are of Central importance in metaphysical poetry.

A (metaphysical) conceit is usually classified as a subtype of metaphor – an elaborate and strikingly unconventional or supposedly far-fetched metaphor, hyperbole, contradiction, simile, paradox or oxymoron causing a shock to the reader by the obvious dissimilarity, “distance” between or stunning incompatibility of the objects compared.

 

 One of the most famous conceits is John Donne's A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning, a poem in which Donne compares two souls in love to the points on a geometer's compass.

Thus we see that the metaphysical poetry is a unique type of poetry. Since the metaphysical poets were highly qualified and had deep knowledge they wanted to be different from other poets of their time, so they used far- fetched imagery and hyperbole in their poetry. This is the reason that their poetry is very difficult to understand for common people.

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