THE METAPHYSICAL POETRY

“about the beginning of the seventeeth century appeared a race of writers”( Johnson 11) who
inaugurated a rebellion against the fashion of Petrarchan sonnets and sweet Caveliar poets. The
closing of the Elizabethan era is marked by their peculiar style which employs metaphysical conceits
i.e., “the elaboration of a figure of speech to which ingenuity can carry it” (Eliot 1). Dryden used the
term for the first time to castigate John Donne. Dryden says “He affects the Metaphysics” for
confusing the minds of readers with philosophy instead of entertaining them. Later Samuel Johnson
in his ‘Life of Cowley’ defined the metaphysical school of poets keeping in mind John Donne
primarily. Johnson identified wit or conceit as the most prominent feature of the school with his
definition “a combination of dissimilar images, or discovery of occult resemblances in things
apparently unlike… The most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together” (Johnson 11).
Metaphysical conceits are far fetched imageries that have no similarities at all but in deeper
interpretations they sound logical. Often the metaphysical poets take comparisons from philosophy,
astronomy, geography, mathematics, science, alchemy, etc.

The metaphysical poets were condemned for their exhibition of knowledge in poetry. Dryden and
Johnson reproached very hard for their allusions referring to learning. Critics have reprimanded wit
as the poets’ tendency to show off their learning. It was also considered unfit as the common
readers find difficulty in extracting the meaning of the poem. But this wit forms the foundation of
the metaphysical poetry. As years passed, metaphysical poetry, especially of Donne, gained supreme
importance and critics like T.S. Eliot appreciated the quality of “unification of sensibility” or “blend of
passion and thought” in metaphysical poetry which makes it distinct from the Neo classical and
Romantic trends in poetry.

The Metaphysical poetry was a rebellion against the sweet Petrarchan sonnets. The Elizabethan lyric
was imitative of the Italian sonnets form and characterized by mere imagination, idealism and
sentimentalism in profuse lyrics. But the metaphysical poetry explored the personal feelings and
introspection in a style that was brief, direct, argumentative, logical and sharp. The socio political
background of renaissance, the development of the philosophy of humanism, the interest in
geographical explorations and scientific discoveries exerted great influence on the metaphysical
poetry and these are reflected in almost all poems of the kind.

The characteristics features of the metaphysical poetry are metaphysical conceits and wits, strange
yet witty allusions, heavy uses of figures like paradoxes, hyperboles, metaphors and similes and
clever but complex imageries. They involve thought and feeling. The style is epigrammatic, that is
sharp and witty. It is often composed in a diction which is prosaic, colloquial and even pedantic. They
employ arguments and engage reasoning to bring out the meaning concealed in far fetched
comparisons and dissimilar images. There is a dramatic manner of presentation. Some of the
metaphysical poets take a cynical and ironical attitude. Such poetry analyse the subject from an
intellectual viewpoint and coax the reader also to do the same rather than simply rejoicing at the
imagination or feelings. The major poets of the school are John Donne, Alexander Cowley, Andre
Marvell, Henry Vaughan and Richard Crashaw.

‘A VALEDICTION: FORBIDDING MOURNING’ AS A METAPHYSICAL POEM

The characteristic figure in the metaphysical poetry, especially of John Donne, is the application of
the metaphysical conceits or metaphysical wits. Metaphysical conceits work through far fetched or
unusual similes or metaphors. The comparison thus between the entirely different objects is
surprising as it retains their unlikeness but explores novel interpretations. They are often governed
by a complex logic but powerful to express the emotional state or mood as well.

The poem starts with an extended metaphor in the very beginning itself. We encounter the poet
pacifying his wife at the moment of departure by bringing in stark comparison between their love
and the dying of virtuous men. First of all, we find it a tough task to relate how love is like men.
Though a relation is somehow established, the comparison is yet complex as “virtuous” and “dying”
remain contradictory. In a normal sense, virtuous are eternal, but here it goes the other way. He says
that virtuous men are not terrified with death, instead, they are happy to free the soul and they die
“mildly” with no complaints. The poet wants their parting to be like that for the lovers are also too
“virtuous” and hence should separate “mildly”. Taking love like dying virtuous men makes the
readers stunned, but that is the triumph of Donne. A closer analysis would give speculations the
lovers need not worry about separation because their love is noble and spiritual. The dying man and
the lovers lose only physical identity. It hints that though they physically separate, their souls are
united to be one – a theme that is throughout recurrent.

The poem “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” is rich with metaphysical conceits that amalgamate
intellectual with imagination. The major metaphysical conceits in the poem are “the trepidation of
the spheres”, the beaten gold and the pair of compass feet.

The play with the metaphors goes on and in the third stanza the readers are provoked to think
when they encounter the “trepidation of the spheres”. The earthquakes shake up everything and
create confusion and at the end they bring harm only. But “trepidation of the spheres”, though of
greater intensity, is calm, subtle and quiet. The metaphor is revealing a brilliant comparison between
the earthly lovers and the lovers who share a bond of spiritual love. The former who perform great
drama like the earthquake ultimately win nothing but pain and troubles. Such people whose love is
physical cannot endure each other’s presence and they fuss about the parting. But the poet is
placing the latter kind of lovers in a higher realm by comparing with celestial bodies. Their love is
profound, greater and refined. They don’t care about the physical organs like eyes, lips and hands
whose absence makes the earthly lovers helpless with the very thought of parting.

Their souls are made one by love and hence, they will not suffer any breach. Rather they will expand
like the gold beaten. This is the next extended metaphor that can be counted. Gold is hammered to
make foil, but unlike other metals that break, gold is made finer and expands. Just like that the poet
says even though he moves to farther places, their love will only expand and shall certainly survive
the hard slaps of distance.

The most acclaimed and interesting metaphysical conceit of Donne is presented in the seventh
stanza. Donne extorts that he and his wife are “as stiff twin compasses”. The readers startle to have
this understanding of the lovers as the feet of compass and they are forced to meditate upon this
bizarre yet careful conceit. The poet and his wife are so much so like the legs of a compass which are
found apart; but they exist together and are of no use if separated. This conceit develops in the
following stanzas. The fixed foot is Donne’s wife as she is not going out anywhere. The fixed foot
embodies constancy and centricity. But still the fixed foot, the wife’s soul, moves along with the
other foot i.e., the roaming husband by leaning. She stands upright only when the husband is back
home. The poet deepens the effect of compass by saying that he ends where he had started. Thus
the circle is complete once he is back home and the wife rests only then. There is an underlying note
of appreciation that it is the loyalty and affection of the lady that helps him to complete his journey.
Thu with the compass, he explains that his wife is the centre of his life and wherever he goes, he will
come back to her, just a circle. The circle may be symbolic of their wedding ring or an emblem of
perfection. Anyways the abstract ideas of spiritual unity and perfection are conveyed by the
concrete symbol “circle”

Paradox is again prominent in his declaration that with earthly lovers “soul is sense”. Soul and
sensuality are usually considered as polarities, but when Donne unites them it becomes the
manifestation of his paradoxical wittiness which is incidental to the metaphysical poetry.

He then sets up another metaphor of “melt” in the second stanza. Prior to this, he comments that
the friends gathered at the deathbed of the men cannot recognize whether the breath has stopped
or not. The stoppage of the breath and “melt” connotes the idea that the parting should be so
peaceful that it fails to fall under notice. Allen Tate suggests tenderness to be equated with “melt”.
The virtuous men feel tenderness towards the union with God and on the other hand the poet and
his wife feel tenderness towards being joined by love. The dying soul goes and the bodies of the
lovers melt to attain spirituality and thus the poet is rewarding their virtue.

In the second stanza, Donne introduces hyperboles of “tear floods” and “sigh tempests”. Unlike the
conceits, these exaggerations appeal to the emotions dealt in the poetry. He shuns such dramatic
shows at the moment of valediction and supplies reasons as well. It would degrade their love and
bring them down to the level of profane lovers. He doesn’t want his love to be common like others’.
Also, he is not happy with publicizing the grief to the laymen. The hyperbole is an essential element
of the metaphysical poetry mainly because it engages the attention faster, provides a little
merriment and often offers subtle irony. Here, Donne is cynical and ironical of the silly behavior of
the lovers. The strident tone of the hyperboles and the principle of arriving at the credible by
asserting the incredible is an inevitable characteristic of the metaphysical poetry.

A dominant trait of the metaphysical poetry that is very much seen in this poem is the epigrammatic
style. It refers to the “terse, pointed and witty” (Abrams 113) style used in the verse or prose. The
wit here is intellectual, amusing and denotative of brilliant paradoxes. The poem can be an epigram
as it conduces idea that that separation intensifies the love.

In this poetry of Donne, the reference to the cosmos, the malleability of gold and geometrical or
mathematical allusion are the scholastic elements. Metaphysical style received ruthless criticism for
the application of such wit.. Here, such imageries may not seem poetic and romantic to express the
feelings of a lover who bids farewell with utmost pain. But the witty comparisons appeals to the
intellect and incite deeper thoughts to feel the emotions at their fullest though the paradoxical
reasoning adds to the complexity of the poem.
The pedantic, obscure, out of the ordinary imageries prompt the reader to think to dig out the
deeper meanings entangling cosmos, molten gold and compass. Such thought provoking imagery
leads to the subtle evolution of the argumentative mode. With the odd imageries and witty
comparisons, Donne sets how his love is spiritual and higher than all other terrestrial lovers, but the
idea is developed through arguments and reasoning. Each unusual imagery carries a series of
arguments within it, which makes it normal and logical. Recondite images and strange allusions
cause rapid movement of thought and multiplied associations.

We can find, in the words of T.S. Eliot, “unification of sensibility” as a unique feature of the
metaphysical poetry. Intellect and imagination or thought and feeling combine in a harmonic fashion
in such lyrics. In our poem, Donne successfully sustains the emotion of love and the sad feelings of
parting. But he doesn’t limit him there; instead the emotional situation is intensified by supplying his
wit. When we observe the conceits carefully, the basic idea that physical separation can never
hamper the spiritual union of the lovers is deduced and this serves as the best and perfect
consolation. The merit of the poetry is that it doesn’t let the reader relax, he or she is constantly
engaged, trying to untangle the contradictions and complexities. The dying man imagery and “melt”
which demands an active intellectual participation prove to be the instances in this case.

Regarding the diction of the metaphysical school, it is made clear at a glance that they prefer
unpoetic, harsh, unmusical, prosaic and colloquial style. Donne poems are known for their shortness
and rugged nature of lines. He incorporates words of pedagogy which are of no poetic quality. The
style, being reluctant to musicality, suits both prose and verse. The second stanza introduces the
careless and colloquial diction. Instead of sating “It were”, he deliberately uses “ ‘Twere”.

A distinctive feature that makes ‘A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning’ a metaphysical poem is the
dramatic nature and conversational tone. The poem itself is a thought pattern or dialectical
sequence. The way he asks his lady not to create a scene by shedding tears profusely and sighing
heavily and to wish him a silent farewell is an example.

The poem is arranged in 9 quatrains with abab rhyme scheme and is set in iambic tetrameter. The
first stanza brings in the metaphysical conceit of virtuous men dying; the second stanza connects the
imagery with the poet and his wife’s moment of valediction and provides exaggerated expressions;
the third stanza presents the holy nature of their nature of their love; and the fourth and fifth
stanzas justify how they stay different from the early lovers; the immediate next stanza sets up the
metaphor of gold that expands though beaten to represent the couple’s never breaking love; the
final three stanzas remark the wonderful conceit that compares the lovers to the feet of compass
and the arguments that favour the strength and unity of their relationship in reference to the
compass conceit.

CONCLUSION

The term metaphysical poetry has been observed differently by different critics. Joan Bennett says,
“metaphysical refers to style, rather than the subject matter, but style reflects an attitude to
experience.”(2) Whatever the subject is, love or death or religion, the treatment of the subject is the
most special feature of metaphysical poetry. here also we find how different the approach is taken
by Donne to a turbulent sadness of parting. For H.J.C. Grierson “a metaphysical poetry…has been
inspired by a philosophical conception of the universe and the role assigned to the human spirit in
the great drama of existence.”(xiii) The poem taken into discussion encounters the drama of physical
existence and explores the philosophy of spiritual union which makes the poem basically
metaphysical. Even though Dryden and Johnson made reproach, they were also recognizing the
significant characteristics wit. Thus as Coleridge says, “it is an admirable poem which none but
Donne could have written”. It proves to be one of the finest examples of metaphysical poetry with
all its salient features and effect and remains to be the same eternally.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gardener, Helen. The Elegies and the Songs and Sonnets by John Donne. United Kingdom: Printed by
Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1970

Gardener, Helen. John Donne: A collection of Critical Essays. United States of America: Printed by
Prentice-Hall, Inc, 1962

Johnson, Samuel. Lives of the English Poets, Volume I. London: Printed by Oxford University Press,
1955-1956

Grierson, Herbert. Metaphysical Lyrics and Poems of the Seventeenth Century. United Kingdom:
Printed by Oxford at the Clarendon Press,

Tate, Allen. Essays of Four Decades. Chicago: Printed by Swallow Press,1968

Bennet, Joan. Five Metaphysical Poets. United Kingdom: Printed by Cambridge University Press,
1966

ARTICLES

Eliot,T.S.. ‘The Metaphysical Poets.’1950

Trilling, Lionel. ‘ John Donne: A Valediction Forbidding Mourning’. 1979

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