The 17th Century

Slide 1: The 17th Century: Revolutions, Demotions, and Re-evaluations  The Scientific Revolution, the opening of the New World, and the Reformation forced people to re-evaluate human nature, the purpose of human life, and even reality itself.

Slide 2: New Metaphors  New realities require new metaphors-- of exploration, discovery, and imaginative association between very different things.

Slide 3: Conceit  These shocking new metaphors are called conceits.  A conceit is an extended metaphor.  Conceits often explore the shocking similarities between an idea and an object that, at first glance, has nothing to do with the idea.

Slide 4: “Metaphysical” Poets  The \"metaphysical poets,\" led by John Donne, experimented with these new metaphors, and influenced a generation of poets who reacted to the changes in their world in vehement and even violent ways.

Slide 5: Cavaliers and Puritans  Some, like the Cavaliers, embraced the new- fangeldness of the age; others, like the Puritans, yearned for certainty and truth in tradition and spirituality.