The Metaphysical poets of English literature were a group of poets who were philosophical by use of conceits and emphasized spoken rather than lyrical aspects of poetry. John Donne, George Herbert, Andrew Marvell, Abraham Cowley, and Henry Vaughan were metaphysical poets in the seventeenth century.
What is metaphysics? Metaphysics is something that is outside of human sense perception or beyond everyday experience and knowledge. The word metaphysical comes from the Greek word meta, which means beyond, and physics, which means ‘Nature.’ Metaphysics is that branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract concepts such as being, knowing, identity, time, and space.
The words The Metaphysical poets were coined by Dr. Samuel Johnson. He said—”There appeared a race of writers that may be termed ‘The Metaphysical poets.’” John Donne was the chief of the metaphysical poets. About John Donne, John Dryden said—
“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 softness of love. In this… Mr. Cowley has copied him to a fault.”
The Metaphysical poets were men of learning. They were more desirous of being admired than being understood. To show their learning was their whole endeavor. The reader admires but is less pleased.
In the 1920s, T.S. Eliot did much to re-establish the importance of the metaphysical school. His poem The Waste Land is almost a metaphysical poem. W.B. Yeats also had a metaphysical bent of mind. His words in the poem Among School Children—
“How can we know the dancer from the dance?”
Is it not metaphysical? Eliot said—
“Let us go, you and I,
The evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized
Upon a table.”
Is it not metaphysical?
John Donne’s words—“Go and catch a falling star, Death be not proud”—are metaphysical. The famous poems of John Donne are The Canonization, The Dream, Song, The Good Morrow, Holy Sonnets, Death Be Not Proud, The Sun Rising, A Valediction, etc.
Andrew Marvell was also a reputed metaphysical poet. His famous poems are To His Coy Mistress, The Garden, The Mower’s Song, etc. George Herbert, another metaphysical poet, wrote poems like Redemption, The Agonies, The Elixir, Discipline, etc. Abraham Cowley and Henry Vaughan were other metaphysical poets. Thus, these poets used complex language and conceits to unearth spirituality and philosophy.
(The views expressed are the writer’s own.)
Radhakanta Seth is a Former Income tax officer in Sambalpur. He is a Freelance writer and his articles have been published in some Oriya dailies like Sambad, Samaj, Dharitri and English dailies like The Telegraph and in a sociological journal ‘Folklore’ published from Kolkata.
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