Metaphysical theory: It's Characteristics and chief exponents with special reference to John Donne
Answers
When we begin exploring John Donne’s verse, the description of him as a ‘metaphysical’ poet is inescapable and so it’s worth considering in detail.
Importantly, Donne and the other 16th- and 17th-century poets gathered under the ‘metaphysical’ banner – Carew, Vaughan and Marvell to name some of the most renowned – didn’t form a cohesive movement in their own time. However, their stylistic similarities – in particular a kind of showy originality and linguistic immediacy – have meant that they have been clustered together for centuries. Some critics such as the 18th-century essayist Samuel Johnson have criticised metaphysical poets for what they saw as their self-conscious cleverness. Others such as the poet T S Eliot have celebrated their inventiveness.
Although it’s important not to lose sight of the differences between these writers, Donne does make use of many typical ‘metaphysical’ features used by others in the group – arresting turns of phrase, conciseness, conceits and an emphasis on the argumentative, for example. We might then, reasonably enough, say that the metaphysical label ‘fits’ his work and leave it there. What warrants further exploration is establishing how – exactly, specifically – Donne makes brilliant and unique use of these techniques.