Metaphysical and Cavalier Poetry

Max Conway and Pierce Connell

Metaphysical Poetry

• Major Player: John Donne• Metaphysical essentially means “beyond the physical”• It is notoriously difficult to define because it is largely based on

context.• Metaphysical poets write in a style that is largely rigorous, uneven

and energetic• Often force together seemingly unconnected ideas, by using wit or

conceit e.g., metaphors drawing sometimes forced parallels between apparently dissimilar ideas or things), complex and subtle thought, frequent use of paradox, and a dramatic directness of language, the rhythm of which derives from living speech.

Metaphysical Poetry

• Philosophical approach to everyday subjects• Striking comparisons • Conversational style• Poetry: takes the form of an argument appealing to

both intellect and emotion; subject matter is serious and complex.

• They accept the ideal of the Renaissance Gentleman who is at once lover, soldier, wit, man of affairs, musician, and poet

Metaphysical Poetry• Metaphysical Poetry

• Speaks to the concept of existentialism. • Existentialism, in a broad sense, speaks to how humans exist in the

world.• It embodies the notion of human will, and all the reasons of why and

how we do what we do.• The metaphysical poets were not formally affiliated with each

other meaning at the time, they may not have been familiar with each others’ work.

• They were influenced by the changing times and the new sciences that were emerging during the 17th century.

• Donne is revered as a sort of “grandfather” of metaphysical poetry.

Metaphysical Poetry

• Main Topics• Law• Medicine• Philosophy• Religion (often)• Etc.

Metaphysical Poetry

• Tendency toward psychological analysis of the emotions of love and religion

• Penchant for the novel and the shocking• Use of metaphysical conceit• The extremes to which they sometimes carried

their techniques, resulted frequently in obscurity, rough verse, and strained imagery.

Metaphysical Poetry

• Noted Poets• John Donne (1572-1631)• Ben Johnson (1572-1637)• Andrew Marvel (1621-1678)

Metaphysical Poetry

• Noted Themes• Carpe Diem: “Seize the day.” The theme was

very common in sixteenth-and seventeenth-century English love poetry; lover-poets continually were exhorting their mistresses to yield to love while they still had their youth and beauty.

Metaphysical Poetry

• Metaphysical Conceit• A highly ingenious kind of conceit widely use by

the metaphysical poets who explored all areas of knowledge to find in the startlingly esoteric or the shockingly commonplace telling and unusual analogies for their ideas. The use of such unusual conceits as controlling images in their poems is a hallmark of these writers.

Metaphysical Poetry

• Paradox• A phrase or statement that while seemingly

contradictory or absurd may actually be well-founded or true. Paradox is a rhetorical device used to attract attention, to secure emphasis.

John Donne

• “Song”• Written on the occasion of his parting from his

wife• Identify the conceit in the second stanza• The tight rhyme scheme reinforces the logical

organization of the argument• Lines 21-24: What are his reasons?• Lines 33-36: What is he asking of her?

• “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”• A song of farewell• What is happening in the first four lines?• In the second stanza, what is he asking of his

beloved? What hints do we see of Donne’s religious conversion?

• What is the purpose of the comparison in lines 13-20?

• “Death Be Not Proud”• Personification or apostrophe? Line 1• What assumptions does the speaker make about

death in this poem?• “Meditation 17”• What comparisons does Donne make in this

meditation? What does this say about man and his fate?

• “The Flea”

Ben Jonson

• “On My first Son”• Written after his son’s death• What does Jonson consider his best piece of

poetry? • (His son)

• “To Celia”• What is Celia’s reaction to his gift?• (she rejects him)

Cavalier Poetry• The Cavalier Poets:• Major Player: Ben Jonson• Broad description of a school of poets who came from the

classes that supported King Charles I during the English Civil War

• Much of this poetry is light in style• They are 'cavalier' in the sense, not only of being Royalists

but in the sense that they distrust the over-earnest, the too intense.

Cavalier Poetry

• Supporters of Charles I during the Civil War• “Gentlemanly Nonchalance”• “Courtly” lyrics: light and easy• Can be cynical or epigrammatic (a concise poem

dealing satirically with a single thought/event and often ending with an ingenious turn of thought)

• The use of philosophy to explain the human drama in the universe.

Cavalier Poetry

• The Cavalier Poets:• Ben Jonson (1572-1637)• Robert Herrick (1591-1674)• Sir John Suckling (1609-1642)• Richard Lovelace (1618-1657)

• They avoid the subject of religion• Their poetry typically lacks depth and they treat life

cavalierly, as they occasionally also treat poetic convention as well.

• They prefer straight-forward expression

The Later Cavaliers

• A group of young men loyal of the king• Poetry characterized by great wit and intended to

entertain the audience• Conversational style• Elaborate conceits• Admiration for the classics: regular rhythm and simple

language• Themes of love and sometimes sarcastic commentaries on

pursuit of fickle women

Robert Herrick

• “To the Virgins to Make Much of Time”• “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may” • carpe diem

• Identify the metaphor inline 5.• (the sun compared to a lamp)

• What age does Herrick consider to be the best? Why?

Sir John Suckling

• “The Constant Lover”• What conclusion can you draw about the speaker

after reading the first stanza?• The image of “time” shedding its wings is a play

on words (Time flies). What is the speaker saying about his constancy?

• “Why So Pale and Wan Fair Lover?”• What is the condition of the person described in

the poem?• What advice does the speaker give the lover?• Do you think the lover will see the logic of his

argument?

Richard Lovelace

• “To Lucasta, Going to the Wars”• What contrast is being made in the first stanza?• What is suggested about Lucasta’s first reaction to

his leaving?• Identify the paradox in the third stanza

• “To Althea, from Prison”• To what is the speaker contrasting himself in the

third stanza?• Can you put lines 25-28 in your own words?• What is the paradox in the last stanza?

Andrew Marvell

• “To His Coy Mistress”• Why is the suggestion in the first 7 lines of how

they would spend time seem ridiculous?• Lines 8-10: hyperbole and allusion• What is the speaker urging his beloved to do ?