Characteristics of Metaphysical Poetry Essay Sample.
The main features of metaphysical poetry are certainly passion in the writing, the poems are generally very lyrical and of course, particularly in Donne's poetry, they are very witty. In the early to mid 19th century, Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote some rather subjective critical notes on the metaphysical poets and in particular Donne's poetry.
Metaphysical Poets Homework Help Questions. What are the characteristics of metaphysical poetry? Metaphysical poetry is a term applied to many poets who wrote in a rather difficult and abstract.
The term metaphysical poets was coined by the critic Samuel Johnson to describe a loose group of 17th-century English poets whose work was characterized by the inventive use of conceits, and by a greater emphasis on the spoken rather than lyrical quality of their verse.These poets were not formally affiliated and few were highly regarded until 20th century attention established their importance.
The unusual feature of Metaphysical poetry is the repeated combination of these “metaphysical elements” with that particular type of metaphor called “conceit”.
Conceits were first used in metaphysical poetry by 17th century poets, who often tried to shock the reader by the strangeness of the objects being compared. Writing a conceit poem helps students think more deeply about the use of imagery in poetry rather than just rhyme and meter.
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.
The other characteristic of metaphysical poetry, its most immediately striking feature is its fondness for conceits. A conceit is a comparison whose ingenuity is more striking. All comparisons discover likeness in things unlike a comparison because a conceit when we are made to concede likeness while being strongly conscious of unlikeness.In a metaphysical poem, conceits are instruments of.