Metaphysical poetry emerged in the 17th century and was written by British poets like John Donne. It is characterized by profound meditations on subjects like love, man's relationship with God, and the fundamental questions of human existence. Metaphysical poems make striking use of wit, irony, complex conceits, and intellectual argument through a formal poetic structure. John Donne was a leading metaphysical poet known for his innovative style, obscure imagery, and exploration of spiritual and philosophical themes in poems like "The Flea" and "Death be not proud."

1. Metaphysical poetry
Metaphysics :branch of philosophy concerned
with explaining the natural world. It is the study
of being and reality. It asks fundamental
questions such as: “Is there a God?” and “What
is man’s place in the universe?” This study also
includes questions of space, time, causality,
existence, and possibility.

2. • Metaphysical poetry was written in the 17th
century by British poets
Metaphysical poetry was written in the 17th
century by British poets. These poets did not
term themselves “metaphysical poets,” the
name came much later as Samuel Johnson
attempted to classify the type of poetry that
came from this period.

3. • What is a metaphysical poem?
Metaphysical poetry is concerned with the
whole experience of man, but the intelligence,
learning and seriousness of the poets means
that the poetry is about the profound areas of
experience especially - about love, romantic
and sensual; about man's relationship with
God - the eternal perspective, and, to a less
extent, about pleasure, learning and art.

4. • concerned with the whole experience of man
poetry is about the profound areas of
experienceespecially - about love, romantic
and sensualabout man's relationship with
Godthe eternal perspectiveto a less extent,
about pleasure, learning and art.

5. • Metaphysical poems are lyric poems.
They are brief but intense meditations,
characterized by striking use of wit, irony and
wordplay.Beneath the formal structure (of
rhyme, metre and stanza) is the underlying
(and often hardly less formal) structure of the
poem's argument.Note that there may be two
(or more) kinds of argument in a poem.

6. • LOOKING AT THE POEMS’ ARGUMENTS
Looking at the poets' technique should, perhaps, begin with a
consideration of argument.In a way all of the poems have an
argument, but it is interesting or striking in some more than others.
• 8 ConceitA conceit is an extended, elaborate metaphor. An
extended metaphor is a metaphor that carries on through the
entirety of the poem.
• 9 Metaphysical ConceitA metaphysical conceit is a conceit where
the objects of comparison have no apparent connection. For
example, in George Herbert’s poem Praise, he compares God’s
generosity to a bottle full of endless tears. Another example is John
Donne’s poem The Flea.

7. • HERBERT’S IMAGERY :-Herbert's imagery, by way of
contrast, draws on the everyday and familiar; reason is like
"a good housewife", spirit is measured in "drams" and
God's grace is a "silk twist", suffering is a harvest of thorns
or blood-letting, Paradise is a garden where winter never
comes, severity is a rod and love is God's bow or the host at
a banquet .I t will be seen, however, that many of these
images are found in Christ's teaching, while others (or the
same ones) may have acquired religious connotations. The
reference to "thorn" and "bloud" in The Collar ironically
seem to ignore the conventional religious symbolism of
these terms.

8. • JOHN DONNE Born in London in 1572 to a prosperous Catholic
family.
Donne's father died suddenly in 1576, and left the three children to
be raised by their mother, Elizabeth.Donne's first teachers were
Jesuits. At the age of 11, Donne and his younger brother Henry
were entered at Hart Hall, University of Oxford, where Donne
studied for three years. He spent the next three years at the
University of Cambridge, but took no degree at either university
because he would not take the Oath of Supremacy required at
graduation. He was admitted to study law as a member of Thavies
Inn (1591) and Lincoln’s Inn (1592), and it seemed natural that
Donne should embark upon a legal or diplomatic career.

9. • In 1593, Donne's brother Henry died of a fever in
prison after being arrested for giving sanctuary to
a proscribed Catholic priest.This made Donne
begin to question his faith. His first book of
poems, Satires, written during this period of
residence in London, is considered one of
Donne's most important literary efforts.Although
not immediately published, the volume had a
fairly wide readership through private circulation
of the manuscript.Same was the case with his
love poems, Songs and Sonnets, assumed to be
written at about the same time as the Satires.

10. Having inherited a considerable fortune, young "Jack
Donne" spent his money on womanizing, on books, at
the theatre, and on travels.He had also befriended
Christopher Brooke, a poet and his roommate at
Lincoln's Inn, and Ben Jonson who was part of Brooke's
circle.In 1596, Donne joined the naval expedition that
Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex, led against Cádiz,
Spain. In 1597, Donne joined an expedition to the
Azores, where he wrote "The Calm".Upon his return to
England in 1598, Donne was appointed private
secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton, Lord Keeper of the
Great Seal, afterward Lord Ellesmere.

11. • Donne was beginning a promising career
Donne was beginning a promising career. In 1601,
Donne became MP for Brackley, and sat in Queen
Elizabeth’s last Parliament.In the same year, he secretly
married Lady Egerton's niece, seventeen-year-old Anne
More, daughter of Sir George More, Lieutenant of the
Tower, and effectively committed career suicide.Sir
George had Donne thrown in Fleet Prison for some
weeks, along with his cohorts Samuel and Christopher
Brooke who had aided the couple's clandestine
affair.Donne was dismissed from his post, and for the
next decade had to struggle near poverty to support
his growing family

12. Though Donne still had friends left, these were bitter
years for a man who knew himself to be the intellectual
superior of most, knew he could have risen to the
highest posts, and yet found no preferment. It was not
until 1609 that a reconciliation was effected between
Donne and his father-in-law, and Sir George More was
finally induced to pay his daughter's dowry.In the
intervening years, Donne practiced law, but they were
lean years for the Donnes

13. • As Donne approached forty, he published two anti-
Catholic polemics Pseudo-Martyr (1610) and Ignatius
his Conclave (1611).They were final public testimony of
Donne's renunciation of the Catholic faith.Donne had
refused to take Anglican orders in 1607, but King James
persisted, finally announcing that Donne would receive
no post or preferment from the King, unless in the
church.In 1615, Donne reluctantly entered the ministry
and was appointed a Royal Chaplain later that
year.Donne's style, full of elaborate metaphors and
religious symbolism, his flair for drama, his wide
learning and his quick wit soon established him as one
of the greatest preachers of the era.

14. Just as Donne's fortunes seemed to be improving, Anne
Donne died, on 15 August, 1617, aged thirty-three,
after giving birth to their twelfth child, a stillborn.Seven
of their children survived their mother's death.Struck
by grief, Donne wrote the seventeenth Holy Sonnet,
"Since she whom I lov'd hath paid her last debt."Donne
continued to write poetry, notably his Holy Sonnets
(1618), but the time for love songs was over.In 1618,
Donne went as chaplain with Viscount Doncaster in his
embassy to the German princes.His Hymn to Christ at
the Author’s Last Going into Germany, written before
the journey, is laden with apprehension of death.

15. • Donne's private meditations, Devotions upon Emergent
Occasions, written while he was convalescing from a
serious illness, were published in 1624. The most
famous of these is undoubtedly Meditation 17, which
includes the immortal lines "No man is an island" and
"never send to know for whom the bell tolls; It tolls for
thee." He also preached what was called his own
funeral sermon, Death’s Duel, just a few weeks before
he died in London on March 31, 1631.The last thing
Donne wrote just before his death was Hymme to God,
my God, In my Sickeness.

16. • He also preached what was called his own
funeral sermon, Death's Duel, just a few
weeks before he died in London on March 31,
The last thing Donne wrote just before his
death was Hymne to God, my God, In my
Sicknesse.

17. METAPHYSICS
• METAPHYSICS MEANS THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE OF MAN.
• 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.

18. • It is concerned with fundamental problems of
life and death and soul even after death. The
term metaphysical poetry means poetry
dealing with metaphysical subjects. These
subjects are - nature of universe, movements
of stars and planets and the whole
relationship of man to God.

19. • the main characteristics of metaphysical
poetry before we proceed to examine Donne
as a metaphysical poet. Novel thought and
expressions, conceit, wit, obscurity and
learning are the main characteristics of
Metaphysical poetry. All these important
characteristics are found in Donne's poetry.

20. • AS A METAPHYSICAL POET: When Dryden,
Johnson and Dowden called Donne a
metaphysical poet, they referred to the style of
Donne. But when De Quincey disagreed with
them, he toned up Donne's subject matter. His
poetry is metaphysical because of his
individualism and his quest for learning. His
poetry is full of wit. It is obscure and it indulges in
far fetched conceits. It fuses thought and
emotion. It is logical, analytical and mystical.

21. • 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.

22. • 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.

23. • 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.

24. • 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.

25. • 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:

26. • This flea is you and I, and this
• Our marriage bed, and marriage temple is.
•
• CONCLUSION: As a poet of love, too, Donne is a
Metaphysical poet. For him love is not physical
but spiritual. Thus it can be said that Donne
plunged deep in Metaphysical pursuits. His
selection of subject matter, his treatment, his
diction and style prove him to be a true and great
metaphysical poet.