Introduction

John Donne was born on 22 January 1572 and died in 31 March 1631. He
was a famous English poet and a derrick in the Church of England. He is
considered the pre-eminent representative of the metaphysical poets. His
poetry is noted for its vibraity of language and inventiveness of metaphors.
The term “metaphysical” denotes, according to Saintsbury, “the habit,
common to this school of poets, of always seeking to express something
after, something behind, the simple obvious first sense and suggestion of a
subject.” Donne and his followers strike a note of variance from Spenserian
and Elizabethan poetry in general.
Metaphysical poetry implies the characteristics of complexity,
intellectual tone and abundance of wit, fusion of intellect and emotion
colloquial argumentative tone, conceits, scholarly allusions, dramatic tone
and philosophical elements. According to Grierson, Donne’s poetry is
metaphysical, “Not only in the sense of being erudite and witty. But in the
proper sense of being reflective and philosophical.” Metaphysical poetry is
“inspired by a philosophical conception of the universe and the role
assigned to the human spirit in the great drama of existence.” The most
important characteristic of the metaphysical is their possession of, what
T.S. Eliot calls “undissociated sensibility”. There is in Donne poems an
intellectual analysis of emotion. Argumentation and reasoning balance the
passion in Donne’s poetry. No one can deny the passion in “The Sun
Rising”, but there is plenty of argumentation to prove that the sun has no
power over the lovers, as love knows no season or clime when he says.
“Love all alike, no season knows, nor clime, nor hours, days, months, which
are rags of times”
Metaphysical poets
The personal and intellectual complexity and concentration that is
displayed in the poetry of John Donne, the chief of the Metaphysicals.
Others include Henry Vaughan, Andrew Marvell, John Cleveland,
and Abraham Cowley as well as, to a lesser extent, George
Herbert and Richard Crashaw.
What is Metaphysical Poetry?
 First of all the term “metaphysical poetry” refers to a specific
period of time and a specific set of poets. In 17th-century England, there
was a group of poets who, while they did form a formal group, have been
considered the metaphysical poets. There are, in most lists, nine poets that
belong, and they are as follows: John Donne, George Herbert, Henry
Vaughan, Edward Herbert, Thomas Carew, Richard Crashaw, Andrew
Marvel, Richard Lovelace and Sir John Suckling.
So, what is metaphysical poetry? Actually the answer lies in the
composition of these pieces. The common thread is that they
contain metaphors that are highly conceptual in nature. These metaphors
are often tenuous, at best, in their comparisons of one thing to another, but
they can leave the reader feeling enlightened. This type of metaphor is
known as a metaphysical conceit. The way to tell a metaphysical conceit
from a regular metaphor is that they often exhibit an analytical tone,
contain double meanings, show logical reasoning, and have paradoxes,
symbolism, and wit. While one or two of these elements might be missing
from any given piece, there should be the majority of them present.
 John Donne as metaphysical poet

♦ John Donne,
“In ornament way we can say that he is the man who established his
poetic style and that’s for he called as ‘metaphysical poet’.”
• The term in the metaphysical or metaphysics in the poetry is the
fruit of renaissance tree, becoming over ripe and approaching pure science.
The term metaphysical can be interpreted as; beyond=Meta, physical
nature=physical. The word metaphysical has been defined by various
writers. R.S. Hillyer writes,
“Literally it has to do with the conception of existence
With the living universe and man’s place therein.”
Actually the growth and power, loosely it has taken such meaning as
these difficult, obscure, philosophical, ethereal, involved supercilious,
ingenious, fantastic and incongruous.
Qualities of John Donne as metaphysical poet.
(I)                he was men of learning and made a pedantic display of their strange
knowledge.
(II)             he affected a peculiar with which may be deserved a combination of
dissimilar images or discovery of occult resemblance in things apparently
unlike.
(III)          Their fondness for analysis which broke an image into bits, led them
the dissection of emotion rather than a direct impassioned expression of it.
(IV)          Harshness and irregularity of their verse which is poetry only to the eye,
not to ear.
John Donne is the classic representative of metaphysical
poetry. His instinct compelled him to bring the whole of experience into
his verse and to choose the most direct and natural form of expression by
his learned and fantastic mind. He is a great genius we can say a power of
imagining a new creational work that give us something new to think and
remember. And he is colloquial and rhetorical and erudite in all his
poems. There is a plenty of passion in this kind of poetry. In
the “Anniversary”, Donne gives a lofty expression to the love and mutual
trust of himself and his wife, his restless mind to seek far-fetched ideas,
similitude and images in order to convey to the readers the exact quality of
this love and interest.
LEARNING: The Metaphysical poets were men of learning. Their poetry
reveals their scholarship. From this point of view, Donne is a great
metaphysical poet. To show his learning is his chief object. In his poetry he
has twisted his vast learning.Due to this his poetry becomes very difficult to
understand. In Donne's poetry, there is always an antithesis between
natural and divine knowledge. Donne's pre- occupation with mortality and
death fills his poetry with a macabre element. In his fine sonnet 'Death Be
Not Proud' he hates death and says:
One short sleep past, Wee wake eternally,
          And death shall be no more, Death thou shalt die.

NEW THOUGHTS AND EXPRESSIONS: Donne's poetry is purely

intellectual and it makes an appeal to the intellectuals. His thoughts are
often new. He has expressed his thoughts in a unique manner. In short, he
played with thoughts. In ' The Canonization' 'The Flea' and " Death Be Not
Proud' one can easily find Donne's new thoughts and expressions.

OBSCURITY: Obscurity is one of the important features of Donne's

poetry. In his poetry we find obscurity and vagueness of subject. This is
linked with sensibility of literary wit and philosophical conceptions. He
frequently combines dissimilar ideas. Thus his poetry is harsh, obscure and
puzzling. Saintsbury is right when he calls him a very great and very
puzzling poet.

WIT: Wit is one of the chief characteristics of Metaphysical poetry. This

important feature can be found everywhere in Donne's poetry. It fashions
his feeling and thought. Passion sentiment and sensuality are subordinated
to wit.His wit is unique in the discovery of comparison and analogies. It is
realistic and straightforward. It looks to run side by side with humour and
irony. The heterogeneous material is compelled into unity by the rapid
association of thoughts. ‘The Flea' is a beautiful example of it.

CONCEIT: Conceit is an important feature of Metaphysical poetry. Donne

makes an abundant use of conceits. It is an instrument to reveal wit. The
conceit is a comparison between two unlike objects or things. In short, it is
a far- fetched comparison. Donne's conceits are far- fetched and his
imagery is obscure.We can easily point out some of the conceits in Donne's
poetry. In his popular poem 'The Flea' the flea becomes a marriage bed. It is
because it bites the beloved after biting the poet:
 This flea is you and I, and this
 Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is.

◙ How is Donne's life reflected in his poetry?

well by observing its Several major events in Donne's life--his
marriage, his conversion to Anglicanism, his wife's early death, illness, and
his elevation to the Deanship of St. Paul's--can be seen in his poetry. In a
more complicated way, one can draw inferences about which religious
doctrines Donne may have been most fascinated by or skeptical about,
considering carefully what he writes when treating various doctrines.
By looking through his work we also have to look at the aspects
of ‘love’, we all know the mean and also somewhere feel it. Most of the
time we imagine by this nature, rose or the spiritual aspects but in
metaphysical poetry we see other rout, means something unknown things
in this presenting  matter to somewhere other experience let’s question it
then discuss it;
◙ How does Donne treat physical and spiritual love in his works?
 As a Metaphysical poet, Donne often uses physical love to evoke
spiritual love. Indeed, this metaphysical conceit in much of the love poetry
is not explicitly spelled out. To this end, Donne's poetry often suggests that
the love the poet has for a particular beloved is greatly superior to others’
loves. Loving someone is as much a religious experience as a physical one,
and the best love transcends mere physicality. In this kind of love, the
lovers share something of a higher order than that of more mundane lovers.
In “Love’s Infiniteness,” for example, Donne begins with a traditional-
sounding love poem, but by this third stanza he has transformed the love
between himself and his beloved into an abstract ideal which can be
possessed absolutely and completely. His later poetry (after he joined the
ministry) maintains some of the carnal playfulness from earlier poetry, but
transforms it into a celebration of union between soul and soul or soul and
God.
v  John Donne’s poems
His best known work of metaphysical poetry;

o   The Sun rising

o   The Flea
o   Death, be not proud
o   Sweetest Love
o   The Dream
o   The Ecstasy
He is major the figure here as we renowned and the fact that give us
the highlights of metaphysical poetry. He uses many things that we see and
for which we can say Unified sensibility, rising power of love, tells feeling by
metaphor etc...

Conclusion
John Donne was an English poet of the early seventeenth century. He is
considered the pre-eminent representative of theme taphysical poets..
Donne's style is characterised by abrupt openings and various paradoxes,
ironies and dislocations. He is particularly famous for his mastery of
metaphysical concise.
 John Donne is regarded a great metaphysical and love poet. Though it is a
fact that he remained under darkness for a couple of hundred years, yet
today he is acknowledged as a remarkable poet of his era. He changed the
dynamics of love poetry which was severely resented by the conventional
poets, the Elizabethans. Living in his age, the bold treatment of love both in
his love as well as divine poems is surprising but intellectually appealing.
The subtlety of style and use of conceits sometimes shocks but appeals to
the intellect. The rigid approach and accusations of his critics that "he
perplexes the minds of the fair sex with the speculations of philosophy"
were eclipsed by the commending remarks of T.S Eliot and the likes. Donne
is a passionate and bold poet. To grasp & understand the true sense of
metaphysical poetry and its use by John Donne, let us discuss various
aspects of this genre of verse in the light of his poetry. The poet boldly
treats the matter of physical love and union and the disturbance caused by
the sun "buie old foole, unruly sunne" in "The Sun Rising". He goes on to
ask God to "batter my heart" because the poet feels that he has sinned so
much that there is no escape for him except that God renews his heart and
makes it anew. He seeks spiritual renewal with the grace of God. There are
several examples as to the passion and boldness of his poetry e.g. "Death be
not proud", "Twicknam Garden" etc.