Assignment - Literature of the Elizabethan & Restoration Periods

*Metaphysical poetry as a Unique Poetry👀

             Name - Jignesh  K. Panchasara

             Paper - Literature of the Elizabethan & Restoration Periods

             Roll No- 9

             Enrollment no-3069206420200013

Email id-jigneshpanchasara5758@gmail.com

             Batch- MA 2020-2022

Submitted to - S.B Gardi Department of              English, Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji  

                                 Bhavnagar University.  

      *Metaphysical Poetry as a Unique Poetry 

                 Introduction 

   The Group of poets emerged  in the second half of 16th century. whose poetry is Identified as Metaphysical poetry. Samuel Johnson was a Classicist of the Neo Classical age .Who named The Poetry of Donne and his school as the Metaphysical Poetry.

       Johnson used this term, while writing about the Life of Abraham Cowley in his Biographical work with the title 'The lives of English poetry'. 

 

       *   What is Metaphysical poetry*?

                   

                      

The term metaphysical or metaphysics in poetry is the fruit of renaissance tree, becoming over ripe and approaching pure science. “Meta” means “beyond” and “physics” means “physical nature”. Metaphysical poetry means poetry that goes beyond the physical world of the senses and explores the spiritual world. Metaphysical poetry began early in the Jacobean age in the last stage of the age of Shakespeare.

John Donne was the leader and founder of the metaphysical school of poetry. Dryden used this word at first and said that Donne “affects the metaphysics”. Among other metaphysical poets are Abraham Cowley, Henry Vaughan, Richard Crashaw, Andrew Marvell, George Herbert, Robert Herrick etc.

     Definition of Metaphysical Poetry

  The word 'metaphysics' comes from the Greek word. Which is a combination of two words: 'meta' and 'physics' that literally mean "beyond nature'. Here the word nature refers to the nature of a thing, such as its cause and purpose Metaphysics studies questions of a thing beyond or above questions of its nature. Metaphysics deals with the questions which can not be explained by science. Metaphysical poetry is highly intelligent and witty. It is deeply religious as well as ironic also. One can find strange imagery and contain complicated thoughts in it..

 

Characteristics of the 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 humor.

*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 poets are......   

• John Donne
• Andrew Marvell
• Henry Vaughan
• Richard Crashaw
• George Herbert
• Katherine Philips
• Abraham Cowley

* John Donne as a Metaphysical Poet 

John Donne is known as the founder of the Metaphysical poets. His works are noted for their strong and sensual style of writing. His poetry is noted for its vibrancy of language and inventiveness of metaphor.

"Death be not proud" is the 10th holy sonnet by John Donne. In the present sonnet, he tries to nullify the fear of death.

Here the poet starts talking about the death, whom he treats as a person. He tells death not to be proud because he is not as scary or powerful as people think. By mentioning this poet coveys us that death has no capacity to kill him. Then he tries to burn the death's biscuit by comparing him to 'rest and sleep'. The poet says that if he has to draw the picture of death he will draw the picture of a person enjoying rest and peace which means death gives us rest and peace to us. Best people have to go with death that's why the poet says not to be afraid of death. As per the poet's point of view, there are three dwelling places of death. They are poison, war, and sickness. The poet also says that a mother's charm causes sleep to us in a better way than the way death caused by a single stroke. In this way, the poet says that not a need for death to be proud. If death is accepted in this manner than death itself would die.

The Pulley by George Herbert

 

   The Pulley by George Herbert is a religious metaphysical poem which centers on the 'Pulley' as a prime conceit in the poem. This poem talks about the relationship that exist between God and man. In the starting of the poem God. In this poem God makes us understand that God sees human as a being that is subjective to change and they follow the wrong course by loving the nature things which is created by God rather than to love God himself. God makes himself superior to man by seizing rest out of man's life. It simply means that God removes all the contexts like barreness, lack of money and many others which prevents man to come to him. The important idea of this poem is that without christ there is no Life.

                  The Flea by John Donne

       The Flea

                 BY JOHN DONNE

Mark but this flea, and mark in this,   

How little that which thou deniest me is;   

It sucked me first, and now sucks thee,

And in this flea our two bloods mingled be;   

Thou know’st that this cannot be said

A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead,

Yet this enjoys before it woo,

And pampered swells with one blood made of two,

And this, alas, is more than we would do.

Oh stay, three lives in one flea spare,

Where we almost, nay more than married are.   

This flea is you and I, and this

Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is;   

Though parents grudge, and you, w'are met,   

And cloistered in these living walls of jet.

Though use make you apt to kill me,

 Let not to that, self-murder added be,

 And sacrilege, three sins in killing three.

Cruel and sudden, hast thou since

Purpled thy nail, in blood of innocence?   

Wherein could this flea guilty be,

Except in that drop which it sucked from thee?   

Yet thou triumph’st, and say'st that thou   

Find’st not thy self, nor me the weaker now;

 Tis true; then learn how false, fears be:

 Just so much honor, when thou yield’st to me,

  Will waste, as this flea’s death took life from thee.

      

Summary:👇                                                                                Look at this flea and you'll see how small the thing that you deny me really is. It bit me first and now it bites you. In the flea, our two bloods are mingled together. You know that this isn’t sinful or shameful; it’s not a loss of virginity. And yet the flea gets to enjoy your blood without courting you first, and it grows fat digesting our combined blood. And that is more than we are allowed to do.Wait, don’t kill the flea and kill us with it! In the flea’s body, we are almost, no, more than, married. The flea is you and me. It is our marriage bed, our wedding chapel. Though our parents’ disapprove, we are safe within these dark, living walls. Though you may want to kill me, do not add suicide and sacrilege to your list of sins: three sins will come from killing the flea.Cruel and unpredictable woman, have you stained your nails purple with the flea’s innocent blood? The flea is guilty of nothing but sucking a drop of blood from you. Yet you exalt in your victory over the flea and say that neither you nor I are weaker for killing it. That’s true enough and you should learn from that how false your fears are. You will lose as much honor when you give your virginity to me as this flea’s death took from you.

        

                     Conclusion👍

  we have seen the all the Three Poems are very Different Imagination of poet. we can not Imagination that types of thoughts with imagination , That's why the Importance of poetry is a far better than the another poetry, so we can say that the poetry of this poets are very different. so The Different Imagination is a Metaphysical poetry.

 The Poetry of Metaphysical is a very Unique poetry as well as a very different nature of the poet.

  Reference 

                                              

                                                                                                Thanks😊