The term “Metaphysical Poet,” is the type of term that I typically underline during my second pass through a text but then rarely come back to. Metaphysical. Such a long, difficult to define word, why bother? But the introduction to John Donne in the Norton Anthology also has some other information in it as well. The term was originally applied to a loose collection of poets as a negative criticism of their style; that’s interesting. And centuries later, T.S. Eliot took it upon himself to make a rebuttal of sorts; even more interesting.
I pursued this a little and found an essay Eliot wrote called, “The Metaphysical Poets.” I’ve inserted a link below for anyone who is interested (although after having read it I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it unless you have a strong interest). To make it easy I’ll outline a few of the major points that relate most to Donne:
· The term “metaphysical” was initially meant as abuse.
· One defining characteristic of metaphysical poetry is “the elaboration (contrasted with the condensation) of a figure of speech to the furthest stage to which ingenuity can carry it.” A reference to the extended conceits of John Donne, such as the lovers as points of a compass.
· One of Samuel Johnson’s points of criticism was that in Donne’s poetry, “the most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together.” Meaning that the extended metaphors are too much forced. Eliot doesn’t mind this and sees it in the work of most poets, even Johnson.
· According to Eliot, another important hallmark of metaphysical poets is that their language is for the most part “pure and simple.” Their sentences, by contrast, are long, although not to the exclusion of feeling.
· The poetry is intellectual, but that does not mean un-emotional. These poets experience a though the same way other poets experienced the smell of a rose.
· Eliot saw parallels between the complex Modernism of his own day and the work of the metaphysical poets.
http://personal.centenary.edu/~dhavird/TSEMetaPoets.html
I like that you made this connection and you were pointed out the main idea of the essay. I was considering reading it but you seem to do a good job of conveying the meaning! Great choice for the wildcard!
ReplyDeleteReading Eliot's paper I found the following quote "We can only say that it appears likely that poets in our civilization, as it exists at present, must be difficult" made me wonder. Are poets today "difficult" as they have more knowledge of how the world functions? Maybe when Eliot says "their works fuses reason with passion." There was more passion for poets like Donne because the world was more of a place to explore one's thoughts and feelings.
ReplyDeleteWow, awesome creative engagement. This really got me thinking, and I love T.S. Eliot, so this was great to read!
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