Definition of Metaphysical poetry.....
The word Metaphysics comes to us from ancient Greece,where it was a combination of two words. Meta means over and beyond and Physic means nature.The combination means over and beyond Physics.Metaphysical is referred as a branch of Philosophy which deals with the first cause and nature of being.It questions the nature of reality in a philosophical way.
John Donne was the pioneer who established this new trend of writing Metaphysical poetry.The title "Metaphysical poetry" was given to the poetry of Donne and his school by Dr.Samuel Johnson. So basically this term has been evolved by Samuel Johnson to identify the poetry of the school of John Donne.
Characteristic of Metaphysical poetry
Doses of wit
The most common characteristic is that metaphysical poetry contains a large doses of wit. Serious questions are examined by the poets which may be related with existence of god or with the consciousness limitation of brain. The poets think carefully about such question with humor before making any decision about it.
Far-fetched images
One more important characteristic of the metaphysical poetry is conceits and far fetched images.In metaphysical poetry poets never brought images from related field but they always brought images from the fields like Geometry, Geography,Agriculture and so on... for example John Donne himself made use of Geographical and Biological images to express the theme of Love.
Themes
If we look at the theme of Metaphysical poetry, it is always spiritual and has often religious themes.It mainly focuses on love,as union of soul.
Literary Devices
Metaphysical poetry uses metaphors,puns,paradoxes and meter to create drama and tension.Metaphysical poetry also uses scientific medical and legal words and phrases to create arguments about the philosophical aspect of life.
Metaphysical poets are....
John Donne
George Herbert
Andrew Marvell
Abraham Cowley
Richard Crashaw
Henry Vaughan
Katherine Phillips
One of the best example of metaphysical poetry is "The Flea"which was written by John Donne.
This poem is a remarkable example of Metaphysical consist used by John Donne which deals with the expression of theme of love.This poem is addressed by a lover to his beloved to express his feelings.
It sucked me first first,and now sucks thee,
And in this flea,our two bloods mingled be...
Here we can see that to convenience his beloved the lover uses image which belongs to the field of Biology.The flea has first sucked her blood and now it sucks his blood.So their two bloods already become one.The lover also says that it becomes church of their marriage and also their bedroom.In this way two bloods have become one without lost her honor or reputation. Such an argument of the lover displeases his beloved who purples her nails by killing that flea.The lover tries to covince her not to kill her beacause it would be the death of three lives.
Andrew Marvell is also a well known Metaphysical poet."To His Coy Mistress" is Andrew Marvell's best known poem.
In this poem the speaker attempts to convince his beloved to act on her passion.He begins by praising her beauty and declaring that if he had the time he would devote himself to loving her.The speaker says that if he had a enough time than he would love her and admire every part of her body intimately.If he were not constrained by time than he would be able to show her how external and deep his love is. The speaker then uses a metaphor of a 'vegetable love' to suggest a slow and steady growth that might increase to vast proportions.After that he sadly speaks of the brevity of life by saying that in death there is no love or romance;he persuade her to love him by reminding her hoe short human life is and says that they have a very brief time to live together.
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