2. Definition of “metaphysical”:
concerned with abstract thought or subjects, as
existence, causality, or truth
designating or pertaining to the poetry of an
early group of 17th-century English poets,
notably John Donne, whose characteristic
style is highly intellectual and philosophical
and features intensive use of ingenious
conceits and turns of wit
3. John Donne (1572-1631)
His poetry is noted for its vibrancy of language and
immediacy of metaphor, compared with that of his
contemporaries.
Donne's earliest poems showed a brilliant knowledge
of English society coupled with sharp criticism of its
problems. His satires dealt with common Elizabethan
topics, such as corruption in the legal system,
mediocre poets, and pompous courtiers, yet stand out
due to their intellectual sophistication and striking
imagery.
4. Holy Sonnet X
by John Donne
Death, be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so ;
For those, whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleep, which but thy picture[s] be,
Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee do go,
Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery.
Thou'rt slave to Fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell,
And poppy, or charms can make us sleep as well,
And better than thy stroke ; why swell'st thou then ?
One short sleep past, we wake eternally,
And Death shall be no more ; Death, thou shalt die.
5. John Donne’s “Holy Sonnets”
•The Holy Sonnets (also known as Divine
Meditations or Divine Sonnets) are a series of nineteen
poems. Never published during Donne’s lifetime but widely
circulated in manuscript, they have become some of Donne's
most popular poems. Most of them are written in the
Petrarchan (Italian) sonnet form, rather than the more
restrictive Shakespearean (English) sonnet form.
•They were composed between 1609 and 1610, in a period of
great personal distress for Donne, with physical, emotional,
and financial hardship, as well as religious turmoil:
originally a Roman Catholic, Donne did not officially join
the Anglican Church until 1615. The Holy Sonnets reflect
these anxieties.
6. John Donne (1572-1631)
John Donne is considered a master of the conceit, an
extended metaphor that combines two vastly unlike
ideas into a single idea, often using imagery.
Unlike the conceits found in other Elizabethan
poetry, most notably Petrarchan conceits, which
formed clichéd comparisons between more closely
related objects (such as a rose and love), Metaphysical
conceits go to a greater depth in comparing two
completely unlike objects.
Donne’s poetry is often ironic and cynical. His most
common subjects were love, death, and religion.
7. So what exactly is a “conceit”?
An elaborate, exaggerated metaphor, usually
strained or far-fetched in nature, comparing
two incredibly dissimilar things.
When the stanza of a poem contains a conceit,
the stanza itself can be called a “conceit,” as
with the octet in Donne’s Holy Sonnet #6.
