![A term coined by Samuel Johnson
From ‘Life of Cowley’ (1781)
Johnson explain how, in the 17th
Century, there “appeared a race of writers that
may be termed the metaphysical poets”
“[on Donne] He affects the metaphysics, not only in his satires, but in his amorous
verses, where nature only should reign; and perplexes the minds of the fair
sex with nice speculations of philosophy, when he should engage their hearts, and
entertain them with the softnesses of love.”
The specific definition of wit which Johnson applied to the school was: “…a kind
of discordia concours; a combination of dissimilar images, or discovery of occult
resemblances in things apparently unlike.”](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/donneconsolidation-250706160427-976527a2/85/I-don-t-know-why-scribd-is-making-me-upload-pets-3-320.jpg)
![John Donne
Donne’s poetry circulated almost exclusively
in manuscript among a select group of friends and
patrons. Donne had no interest in making his poems
generally available, and scorned the idea of printing
them, as he considered it beneath his dignity as a
gentleman.
He did not want to be thought of primarily as a poet,
or as an author writing for money. He regretted
allowing his long poems the Anniversaries to be printed
in 1611 and 1612, remarking that it was an error ‘to
have descended to print anything in verse … I
wonder how I declined to it, and [I] do not pardon
myself’.](https://image.slidesharecdn.com/donneconsolidation-250706160427-976527a2/85/I-don-t-know-why-scribd-is-making-me-upload-pets-4-320.jpg)
I don't know why scribd is making me upload pets
- 1. A few little extras Here are a few added details on context that might be helpful when consolidating your learning from this term
- 2. Who were the metaphysicals? • Wrote between 1590 and 1680. • They did not call themselves Metaphysicals but were given this name by later writers because their poetry dealt with philosophical speculation and abstract ideas…An eighteenth century critic and poet, Dr. Samuel Johnson, wrote the life of one of the minor poets of the group, and throughout the essay referred to the whole group as ‘Metaphysical poets’…From then on, the name stuck. • They were mostly influenced by John Donne although he made no attempt to gather a group of poets round him.
- 3. A term coined by Samuel Johnson From ‘Life of Cowley’ (1781) Johnson explain how, in the 17th Century, there “appeared a race of writers that may be termed the metaphysical poets” “[on Donne] He affects the metaphysics, not only in his satires, but in his amorous verses, where nature only should reign; and perplexes the minds of the fair sex with nice speculations of philosophy, when he should engage their hearts, and entertain them with the softnesses of love.” The specific definition of wit which Johnson applied to the school was: “…a kind of discordia concours; a combination of dissimilar images, or discovery of occult resemblances in things apparently unlike.”
- 4. John Donne Donne’s poetry circulated almost exclusively in manuscript among a select group of friends and patrons. Donne had no interest in making his poems generally available, and scorned the idea of printing them, as he considered it beneath his dignity as a gentleman. He did not want to be thought of primarily as a poet, or as an author writing for money. He regretted allowing his long poems the Anniversaries to be printed in 1611 and 1612, remarking that it was an error ‘to have descended to print anything in verse … I wonder how I declined to it, and [I] do not pardon myself’.
- 5. An Age of Discoveries The 17th century was a time when European explorers discovered the “New World” of America, and scientists moved the world into a new position in the heavens. Scientific Discoveries Before Copernicus argued otherwise in 1543, it was accepted that the Earth was in the centre of the universe. It was not until Galileo agreed with Copernicus in 1610 that the idea that the Earth went round the Sun gained any traction. Previously, the universe was believed to have been ruled not by scientific law but by hierarchies of being. Around the Earth were the planets, then the stars, which were fixed and did not move, then an empty space (the “primum mobile” or “first mover” that drove the whole machine) and finally came heaven and God. This is therefore a move from belief in a geocentric universe, to a heliocentric universe. Geographical Discoveries The known world had recently doubled in size: English, Spanish and Portuguese explorers “discovered” not only America, but routes to Japan and the Far East by new sea routes. This allowed a trade of materials and foodstuffs, as well as slavery. This led to a huge enterprise in map-making, to cope with the psychological adjustment to whole new countries. Europeans set about colonising these countries and making them their own – the start of Imperialism.
- 6. Donne’s fear that he belongs to the devil was not a nebulous fancy. Belief in the physical reality of Satan was practically universal at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Sightings of him walking the earth in various shapes are frequently reported in contemporary memoirs and pamphlets. Those suffering from religious despair were especially prone to his visitations. John Bunyan used to feel Satan plucking at his clothes as he knelt in prayer. There had been an occurrence of this kind quite recently in Donne’s own family. Shortly before his uncle, Jasper Heywood, died at Naples in January 1598, the devil had appeared to him and told him that he was going to Hell of because of his unorthodox teaching.