BACKGROUNDER TO THE ENGLISH METAPHYSICAL POETS

- perhaps the writer who first used the term ‘metaphysical’ was Drummond of Hawthornden
(1585–1649) = in a letter, he speaks of a group of poets who speak of ‘metaphysical Ideas and
Scholastical Quiddities’
- term ‘metaphysical’ then used by John Dryden in 1693 when he critiqued John Donne = ‘He
affects the metaphysics, not only in his satires, but in his amorous verses, where nature only
should reign; and perplexes the minds of the fair sex with nice speculations of philosophy, when
he should engage their hearts, and entertain them with the softnesses of love.’
- term ‘metaphysical’ subsequently adopted in uncomplimentary reference by Samuel Johnson in
a chapter on Abraham Cowley in Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets (1779-81) says that:
 at the beginning of 17th century there ‘appeared a race of writers that may be termed the
metaphysical poets’
 ‘The metaphysical poets were men of learning, and, to show their learning was their whole
endeavour; but instead of writing poetry, they only wrote verses’
 in their poetry, ‘the most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together; nature and
art are ransacked for illustrations, comparisons, and allusions; their learning instructs, and their
subtlety surprises; but the reader commonly thinks his improvement dearly bought, and,
though he sometimes admires, is seldom pleased’
 they display a ‘wit’ marked by ‘a kind of discordia concors’ which is ‘a combination of
dissimilar images, or discovery of occult resemblances in things apparently unlike’
- both Dryden and Johnson acknowledge that Metaphysical poetry undoubtedly reflects profound
thought and learning but brings forth unusual and difficult imagery
Features of Metaphysical Poetry:
1. inspired by philosophy of Neo-Platonism = the perfection of beauty in the beloved act as a
conception of perfect beauty in the eternal realm
2. relies on images and references to contemporary scientific and geographical discoveries
3. examines religious and moral questions based on casuistry i.e. use of logicality/reasoning to
address moral issues and their perception of a personal relationship with God
4. relies on ‘wit’ i.e. intellectual/scholarly aspects
5. frequent use of conceit [a comparison that makes reader concede likeness while being strongly
conscious of unlikeness/a comparison of things patently unlike; the likeness/similarity comes out
in a context which also foregrounds incongruity] + hyperbole, paradox, satire
6. poems have abrupt openings
7. bring out complexity
8. display unification of sensibility/unified sensibility i.e. amalgamation of disparate and
fragmentary experiences in the mind of the poet are expressed as new, unified wholes
9. filled with obscurity, esotericism/obscurity, erudition, spirituality
10. use of colloquial language
 in prescribed essay, TSE chose to focus on Donne, Crashaw and Cowley as the main
representatives of the Metaphysical poets