60

Chapter - III

THE METAPHYSICAL POETRY OF SEVENTEENTH CENTURY

A group of poets in the seventeenth century gave us an

altogether different type of poetry. Here, the word ’different*

is used in the sense that it neither contained the Elizabethan

love-theme nor the chivalrous adventures which were very well

relished by the Elizabethan writers and the readers. For the

poets of this group, their poetry became a media of their mental

and spiritual exercise. Their poetry is marked by the presence

of divinity and religiosity in it. Of course, as it has been

mentioned in the previous chapter, the signs of this kind of

poetry are to be seen in the poems of Southwell who was the

first to use and exploit poetry chiefly for the religious

purpose. The poets of this group made attempts positively to

make their poetry look different from the poetry of the prece­

ding age. They introduced certain literary features in their

poetry which, far above the embellishment, came to be recog­

nised for the special features.

Dr Johnson, keeping in view those literary features

of their poetry, coined a term 'metaphysical poetry' which later

on proved to be a label for their poetry. Even today, the

 61

readers of English literature recognise their poetry using

the same term. Describing the life of Cowley in his book

Lives of the English Poets. Dr Johnson says:

About the beginning of the

seventeenth century appeared

a race of writers that may

be termed the metaphysical

poets; of whom, in a criticism

on the works of Cowley, it is

not improper to give some

account.

Dr Johnson has understood, defined and described the

characteristics of the metaphysical poetry in his own way,

in the light of the literary features of their poetry. It

must be noted, however, that Dr Johnson, who did not approve

of the poetic practice of these poets, used the term ’meta­

physical poetry' in a derogatory sense. Poetry, according

to the neo-classical beliefs of Dr Johnson, could never be

metaphysical. Poetry should be an imitation of reality.

Dr Johnson has marked a number of new poetic features

in this poetry. Almost all the metaphysical poets were men

of learning and their major function was to make the

manifestation of their learning through their poetry. But

it was unfortunate on their part that they tried to express

it through their poetry which, sometimes, merely remained

verse and,
 62

Very often such verses as

stood, the trial of the finger

2
better than of the ear.,.

If we consider poetry as an imitative art as mentioned by

Plato, Donne and his school do not deserve to be called

poets. They imitated nothing - neither Nature nor life.

Dr Johnson puts them below the level of imitators. The

thoughts that they produced in their poetry were new but not

natural. Their poetry, according to Dr Johnson, lacks

musicality which proves that whatever they wrote proved to

be an exercise of their finger rather than of the ear. The

wit for which they are highly rated was, according to Dr

Johnson, nothing but a combination of dissimilar images or

resemblances among the images which look different on the

surface. Their interest was fully centred around achieving

something unexpected from the people and surprising them.

They neglected the human sentiments while writing their poetry.

The metaphysicals wrote with a kind of detachment as they

assumed that they were playing the role of beholders and not
the partakers of human nature. The metaphysicals wanted to
prove their superiority by showing the contemporary literary

world that they had begun an enterprise which none of their

predecessors .could think of. The approach to poetry that they

adopted was analytical as;

 63

They broke every image into

fragments : and could no more

represent, by their slender

conceits and laboured

particularities, the prospects

of nature, or the scene of

life, than he who dissects

a sun-beam with prism,

can exhibit the wide

effulgence of a summer noon.

Amplitude was a mania with the metaphysicals who amplified

everything. It was upto the extent that they left fancy

and reason far behind in their zest for giving a metaphysical

effect to their poetry. While showing such drawbacks of the

metaphysical poetry, Dr Johnson does not forget to show us

the positive side of it. This is a proper way of acquainting

the readers with a new type of poetry. It is true that they

were fond of manifesting their wit which they did by bringing

about different conceits in their poetry but, in doing so,

sometimes they were successful in finding out the unexpected

truth. Their far-fetched images and conceits could carry

the idea and meaning of the poem to that realm which was

neither expected nor imagined by their contemporary readers.

The second benefit, which was shared by both the poets and

readers was that, they were required to possess vast reading

and thinking either to write or interpret this kind of poetry.

This does not mean that the poets used such images to widen

the horizon of knowledge. They did it simply because they

wanted to be praised rather than understood. Generally,

they drew their conceits from those areas of knowledge which

are quite unfamiliar to the readers of literature and lovers

of poetry. In brief, the metaphysicals brought their images

and conceits from the remote background which was not traced

by the readers of that time. Some of the metaphysicals, who

tried to depict platonic love in their poetry, gave great

importance to the tears of lovers. Sometimes, they used

images which contradicted their own ideas that they wanted to

express in their poetry. Of course, it should not be

forgotten that it was a voluntary act on the part of the

metaphysicals to deviate from the main currents of poetry to

give some new shape to it. This they practised in excess and

hence, they failed in their zestful attempts to create

something new. The remarkable feature of the metaphysical

poetry is its emphasis on intellect. The metaphysicals

adopted the intellectual approach both in selection and in

the treatment of the subject-matter. Helen C White describes

the following two factors which are responsible for the birth
of the metaphysical poetry: (1) the philosophical conception
of the universe, and (2) the role of a human being in the

world. These two factors inspired the poets to write in a new

pattern. With the metaphysicals, the first and the foremost

problem was: what kind of verse should be selected to express

 65

religious and philosophical ideas? The poets of this group,

according to Helen White, put emphasis on intellect not only

because they had that zest to give something new but also

because they found it necessary to use wit for bringing in

conceits and images. Examining the metaphysical poetry in the

context of the age, White says that the seventeenth century in

which these poets lived was primarily an intellectual era and

the approach of society to religion was purely intellectual.

Hence, to be in tune with the expectation of the seventeenth-

century society, they seem to have used intellectual images and

conceits, thinking that it would be superficial on their part

to use simple language. One more clarification is given pertai­

ning to the reason why they picked up the metaphysical style of

expression. Dante was naturally benefitted in a way that he
lived in the medieval world which was not affected by the

rationalistic ideas. Dante's world was the world of The Bible,

and people accepted Dante's views without question or counter­

question. People of Dante's world did not even doubt Dante's

concept about religion. But we know that with the Elizabethan

age, an intellectual rebirth took place and people became

conscious of what was wrong and what right. Had the metaphy­

sicals used the same simple concept of religion in the same

simple language, that would have been rejected by the reformed

rational brain of the English people. They would have rejected

the same story of 'life and world after death1 which was expre­

ssed originally by Dante with the help of imaginary legends with

 66
£

no element of rationality in them. The seventeenth-century

English people were not ready to accept the medieval concept

of religion and, hence, in such literary world, the metaphy­

sicals thought that it was of no use to play the same tune.

Of course, up to the time of Milton, people somehow showed some

interest in the biblical world created by Milton but a total

shift from emotion to intellect was noticeable with passage of

time. The metaphysicals realised that playing the same tunes

would not help them any longer. The result was that they tried

to express their understanding of religion in their own way.

Helen White believes that the metaphysical mode was not simply

taken voluntarily by the poets but it was also found needful.

J E Duncan has his own views to express on the meta­

physical poetry. Donne, Herbert, Marvell, Cowley, Crashaw —

all — according to Duncan, are the metaphysical poets. These-

poets contributed to the style which is known as 'metaphysical'.

Referring to a noted critic, William Drummond, Duncan says that

he saw a new style and an important characteristic feature in

their poetry. In Drummond's words:

Some men of late, transformers of everything,

consulted upon her (poetry's) reformation,

and endeavoured to abstract her to metaphysical

ideas and scholastic qualities, denuding

her of her own habits and those ornaments

with which she has amused the world

some thousand years. 4

 67

Drummond finds a deviation from the main current of poetry to

the new style of metaphysical poetry. Duncan counts several

characteristics common in the poetry of all the metaphysicals.

A, Logic and Metaphor; The poets of the Renaissance had

tried to establish some link between logic and the rhetoric in

poetry and this type of poetry came to be known as metaphysical,

for it supported the poets in inventing new types of conceits

which could be a combination of logic and metaphor at the same

time. Aristotle had also approved of the use of metaphors

which are derived from well-constructed enigmas and it was

opined that one should select metaphors from objects which are

closely related to the thing itself; but these metaphors should

not be immediately obvious. The seventeenth-century meta­

physical poets thoroughly followed this principle of Aristotle’s.

They brought logical extensions into their poetry with the help

of metaphor. Andrew Marvell's poem "The Definition of Love"

would be an ideal example of the logical extension and new

subject-matter in their poetry:

As Lines so Loves
Themselves in every Angel greet:

But ours so truelly Parallel,

jr
Though infinite can never meet.

B. Wit: Wit, according to Duncan, is the second major charac­

teristic feature of the metaphysical poetry. It is because of
 68

the element of wit that the metaphysical poetry has secured

a special place in the literary history of England. All the

metaphysicals had a great fascination for wit with which they

tried to refine their language of poetry. Wit played a vital

role in the selection of far-fetched and scientific images.

C. Personal Expression: Duncan states that critics have found

"the flux and flow"^ of particular experience of the meta­

physicals in their poetry: Duncan states:

There is nevertheless a

fascination for new personal

element in their work. 7

The writers during the period of Renaissance were interested in

the love-theme or in the expression of the abstract in the

universe. The metaphysicals shifted the mode of expression

from abstract to personal. Of course, this made their poetry

ambiguous for the readers. It became necessary for the readers

to refer to their private life and issues, before making an

attempt to analyse their poetry. This quality of personal

expression is not present in all the metaphysicals. Some of

them tried their hand at doing so. Donne expresses his personal

views on love and religion in many of his sonnets and poems:

Unpin that spangled breastplate which you

wear,
That th'eyes of busie fooles may be
stopt there.
 Unlace yourself, for that harmonious
chyme,
Tells me from you, that new it is
ted time...
. Licence my roaving hands, and let
them go
Before, behind, between, above, below.
O
0 my America!

Cowley, one of the metaphysicals, says of poetry that it is not

the picture of a poet, but of the things and persons imagined

by him. It is because of this that personal quality enters his

or her poetry. Most of the metaphysicals were interested in

the personal expression in order to communicate their feelings.

This tendency resulted into a new point of view in poetry,

commonly known as the writer's point of view. Here the reader

has to think on the lines demanded by the writer.

D. The Relation of Thought and Feeling: Commenting on the

relation between thought and feeling in the poetry of the meta­

physicals, T.S. Eliot states that the relationship between

thought and feeling is in fact "the recreation of thought into

feelings". g Reacting to this comment of Eliot, Duncan says:

... Eliot has understood the metaphysical

poets at least somewhat better than the

metaphysical poets could have understood

10
his theories of their work.
While minutely examining their poems, a relationship could be
seen between their thoughts and feelings. Donne, in his poem

"The Extasie", finds a close link between body, soul and mind.

His letter to Mr Henry Goodyere is an evidence of his admission

of this relationship:

We consist of three parts, a soul,

and a body and mind: which call

those thoughts and affections and

passions, which neither soul nor

body hath alone, but have been

begotten by their communication,

as Musique results out breath and

11
a coronet.

The metaphysicals were well-acquainted with the human elements

like thought, passion and affections and they also believed

that there exists some kind of relationship among these three

which they viewed more in terms of morality and less aesthetics.

B. Ambiguity: Duncan considered ambiguity also a major feature

of the metaphysical poetry. In the dictionary of Modern

Critical Terms, it has been defined as "something which is
12
opposed to clarity". But in recent times, it has been

considered a major virtue of literature, with the help of which,

a writer can achieve the desired effect in his work. I A

Richards has also defended the presence of ambiguity in poetry

 71

with an argument that the clarity which is required in the

scientific language is not essentially needed in poetry. But

this does not give a licence to a writer to employ this device

just for the sake of employing it. The poet should not possess

undue lust for creating different shades of meaning at a time.

Whenever the poet creates multiple meanings by employing this

device, he should see that his created meanings are interlinked

and all those meanings should intellectually interact with the

readers. One more definition of ambiguity is given by William

Empson who divided ambiguity into seven types:

any verbal nuance, however

slight, which gives room for

alternative reactions to the

13
same piece of language.

Empson’s emphasis is on the different possible reaction or

meanings which could be applied to the same statement of a poet.

Most of the metaphysicals were fond of using puns in

their poetry which became a distinct feature of their poetry.

It gave witty touch to their poetry. The ambiguity which they

created in their poetry proved to be an ornament to their poetry

for it gave the special credit to their poetry. Dr Johnson and

Joseph Duncan are not the only persons to define and discuss

the metaphysical poetry. Scholars and Critics like Helen White,

H J C Grierson and George Williamson have widely commented on

 72

the metaphysical poetry. Helen White, while expressing her

views on the metaphysical poetry, first refers H J C Grierson

who says:

Metaphysical poetry, in the full sense,

is a poetry which, like that of the

Divina Comedia and De Natura Rerum.

perhaps Goethe's Faust has been inspired

by a philosophical concept of the

universe and of the role assigned to the

human spirit in the great drama of

14
existence.

Taking this definition as a base, she says that Grierson's

definition makes one thing clear that the metaphysical poetry

does not stand as an isolated instance of the seventeenth

century poetry but it is a part of the world poetry of all

times. One more worth noting feature shown by Grierson is:

Metaphysical poetry is the blend of

passionate feelings and paradoxical

ratiocination.*^

Whether they wanted to express their love or faith in Christia­

nity, they remained passionate in the expression of their

feelings. This can be located in the poetry of Donne. Helen

White has given several clues about how metaphysical poetry came

into existence. The poets of the seventeenth century faced a

 73

problem about the likely mode of expression which may help

highlight their religious and philosophical ideas effectively.

These poets found it essential to write in ’intellectual’

language because the content they used was religion, philosophy

and platonic love. The- society in which they lived was

intellectual in its approach to religion. The concept of

religion had totally changed in the era in which these poets

lived. In this context Dante was fully benefitted by the

medieval concept of religion. The legends full of imaginative

and emotional values greatly helped Dante. But this type of

concept of religion was unacceptable to the seventeenth-century

society. The major cause for this was the new learning and

reformation which was the fruit of Renaissance. The enlightened

people of the seventeenth century went up to the extent of

doubting the figure of Virgin Mary., So the poets found it of

no use to sing the same tunes, to repeat the same biblical tales,

because the approach to The Bible had shifted from emotional to

intellect. John Milton Is the onljr exception who used biblical

events for his work. Yet, it sustained the interest of the

intellectuals because the form which Milton selected was epic

which gave a large scope for narration. In brief the demand of

time proved to be a major factor behind the metaphysical tendency

in their poetry.

H J C Crierson, whose definition of the metaphysical

poetry is-well-illustrated by Helen White, has his own views to

express on this poetry. He states that the word ’metaphysical
which is given to their poetry truly describes the "peculiar

quality of their poetry". 16 Their poetry is less verbal and

more intellectual, witty; their imagery is learned; they are

argumentative in their approach and above all, there is a nice

blend of passion and thought in their poetry. According to

17
Grierson, it is their "greatest achievement". Grierson takes

a special note of their use of vocabulary:

The metaphysicals are the masters

of the 'neutral style', of a

diction equally appropriate,

according as it may be used.,

to prose and verse.

The words which they used were neither totally poetic nor

prosaic. They were neutral in the sense that they could be

used both in a poem and in a piece of prose.

Coleridge has widely commented on the diction and style

of the metaphysicals. He stated that it was on the basis of

style that the modern writers and versifiers could be distin­

guished from the metaphysicals. The metaphysicals tried to

convey the most fantastic thoughts in the most correct language

while the modern versifiers try tc convey the most trivial

thoughts in the most fantastic language. In Coleridge’s act of

distinguishing the modern versifiers from the metaphysical

poets, their poetry indirectly gets commented upon. Their

thoughts, according to Coleridge, were fantastic and language

correct. Grierson believed that the metaphysicals should not

be neglected on the ground of their fantastic thoughts and

conceits because their thoughts and conceits demanded a sharp

intellect on the part of the readers. Grierson believes that

their approach remained intellectual not only in the expression

of love but also in the expression of faith;

The metaphysicals of the seventeenth

century combined two things, both seem

to pass away, the fantastic dialectics

of medieval love poetry and the 'simple

sensuous' strain which they caught from

the classics — soul and body lightly

yoked and glad to run and soar together.

Modern love poetry has too often

19
sacrificed both to sentiments.

They made a successful attempt in bringing together soul and

body in their poetry. This could be seen at its best in the

poems of Marvell:

Let us roll all our Strength, and all

Our Sweetness, up into one Ball:

And tear our Pleasure with rough strife

Through the iron gates of Life. 20

 76

This is how, right from Dr Johnson till we come to T S Eliot,

the critics have tried to evaluate metaphysical poetry by

bringing the characteristic features of that poetry into focus.

A remarkable thing pertaining to their criticism on the meta­

physical poetry is that they neither showed courage to differ

from the views of Dr Johnson nor evaluated it in a different

way. Most of the critics appreciated the metaphysical poetry

on the lines of Dr Johnson, who remained their major guideline

in their approach to that poetry. When we come to the twentieth-

century criticism and particularly that of T.S. Eliot, the case

is different. The credit for showing courage to differ from the

views of Dr Johnson on the metaphysical poetry goes to Eliot.

Some of the arguments made by Dr Johnson have been rejected and

refuted by Eliot. T.S. Eliot has contributed to the field of

English criticism with his own approach in the evaluation of

the metaphysical poetry. Eliot's aim in his essay "The Meta­

physical Poetry" is not simply meant to refute the criticism

of Dr Johnson's. He does not simply stop there. Eliot attempts

to open a new way of evaluating the metaphysical poetry. Eliot

states that it is very difficult to define metaphysical poetry

and it is even more difficult to decide who practised it and

in which of their verses. In their poetry, we do not find any

precise use of metaphors, similes or conceits common to all of

them', on the basis of which a group could be formed. Poets like

Donne and Cowley employed a device in which we find the elabo­

ration of a figure of speech stretched to the farthest stage

to which ingenuity can carry it. Eliot says that Dr Johnson

gave the term 'metaphysical' to these poets simply keeping in

view their wit and use of far-fetched images. The language of

these poets is simple but the structure is far from simple and

this complicated structure is not a vice, it is in tune with

their thoughts and feelings. Eliot makes a flat statement

that Dr Johnson failed to define the metaphysical poetry

because he tried to examine it in the light of neo-classical

beliefs. But at the same time, Eliot himself confesses that he

is not much hopeful of defining it in a better way by showing

its merits. Eliot objects to Dr Johnson's statement that the

attempts of these poets were analytical. Dr Johnson's statement,

according to Eliot, is only half or incomplete. Eliot finds

one more stage after their analytical process, which is, when
the metaphysicals put their material in altogether a new unity.

Eliot tries to distinguish metaphysicals from others saying:

The poets of the seventeenth century,

the successors of the dramatists of the

sixteenth, possessed a mechanism of

sensibility which could devour any kind

of experience. They are simple, artificial

or fantastic, as their predecessors were;

21
no less no more than Dante....

Eliot opined that to Donne, a thought was an experience which

modified his sensibility and, hence, emerged a style of writing

 78

poetry which looks different from the main current. These

poets, according to T.S. Eliot, should not be classified as

metaphysicals because a poet may have so many interests and it

would be better if he is more intelligent because only then

can he turn his interests into poetry. In the words of T.S.

Eliot:

But they were, at best, engaged in the

task of trying to find the verbal

22
equivalent for states of mind and feeling.

Devotion to Christianity and platonic idea of love were the two

major states of their minds. Almost all the metaphysicals

practised portraying their devotion to Christianity in their

poetry. The Holy Sonnets of Donne are holy in the context that

each of the sonnets presents Donne's religious experience

carved in words. Donne's divine poems had a great influence on

the successors of his school as his poetry possessed several

distinct features in it. The first feature worth noting in his

poetry is that it is the devotee, who is at the centre of his

poetry, and not divinity. The second feature is that Donne

does not speak in the tone of a priest. He speaks as an

individual to his readers. It is because of this that his

poetry is marked with a personal quality in it. Donne was

conscious of his contemporary life. He composed his poems

keeping in view his time and, perhaps, it is because of this

that his attention seems to be on man and not on God. This

self-consciousness is a major feature of his poetry. His poems

depict human soul with an awareness that it is not worthy of

salvation; it has to struggle for salvation. Sin finds a

major focus in Donne’s poetry because of his self-conscious­

ness. Rebelling against God was Donne’s conception of Sin.

He found a war between body and scul which was a harsh reality

to him. Even he himself could not escape from it. His tone

always remained submissive and he used words to hand himself

over to Christ. In the first of the Holy Sonnets, the tone

of total surrender is very well captured:

Thou hast made me, And shall thy work decay?

Repair me now, for now mine end doth haste,

I runne to death, andCdeath meets me as fast,

And all my pleasures are like yesterday;

I dare not move my dimme eyes any way,

Despair behind, and death before doth cast

such terror, and my feeble flesh doth waste

By sinne in it, which it towards hell doth

weigh;

Only thou art above, and when towards thee

By thy leave I can looke, I rise again;

But our old subtle foe so tempteth me,

That not one houre my selfe I can sustain;

Thy Grace may wing me to prevent his art,

And thou like Adamant draw mine iron heart.

23
 80

In the sonnet Donne makes proper use of words to express his

sharp sense of sorrow and repentance for passing his life the

way he should not have done. The past is not worth remembering.

The future has only one bright hope, i.e., Christ. The only

hope for Donne between past despair and the fast-approaching

death is Christ and Donne is sure that it is Christ who would

save him from the Original Sin. "Holy Sonnet IX” reflects an

altogether different mood of Donne. Here he expresses his firm

faith in being granted God's grace:

If poysonous mineralls, and if that tree,

Whose fruit threw death on else immortal us,

If leacherous goats, if serpents envious

Donne has courage to interrogate even Christ and he knows that

God will have to succumb to his prayer. Donne attaches equal

importance to the idea of repentance. He knows that his sighs,

tears and above all, words are misspent. This bitter realiza­

tion is expressed by Donne in the following lines:

0 might those sighes and tears returne again

In to my breast and eyes, which I have spent,

That might in his holy discontent

Mourne with some fruit, as I have

mourned in vain
In mine Idolatory what showers of raine
 81

Mine eyes did waste? What griefs my

heart did rent?

That sufferance was my sinne; now I repent;
'Cause I did suffer I must suffer pain.

The hydroptique drunkard, and night-

scounting thiefe,
The itchy Lecher, and self tickling proud

Have the remembrance of past joyes, for relief

Of comming ills. To (poore) one is allowed

No ease; for, long, yet vehement griefe

hath beene
The effect and cause, the punishment and
25
sinne.

Since Donne did not spend his sighs, tears and words for the

suffering of Christ, he now repents and feels that his condi­

tion is much more painful than that of the thieves, drunkards,

lustful and proud people. Nothing is now stored for him except

pain and suffering. In brief, Donne's Holy Sonnets is an ideal

example of the use of words for devotional purposes. He wrote

all the Holy Sonnets keeping Man and his approach to Christ at
the centre. Richard Crashaw is exactly the opposite of Donne

in this context. Crashaw keeps Christ at the centre and tries

to examine Man-God relationship. Crashaw also agrees, like

Donne, that he is a sinner and he does not deserve the

 82

Saviour’s company. "Matthew-8" states the same feeling of

Crashaw:

The God was making hast into thy roofe

Thy humble faith and feare keeps him aloofe:

Hee’l be thy guest, because he may not be,

Hee’l come - into thy house? no, into three. 26

God Himself is willing to be with Han but Man knows that he is

a sinner and feels inferior. It is this inferiority of Man

which makes God keep Himself aloof from Man. In "Matthew 9"

Crashaw once again pays a glowing tribute to words which are

capable of performing wonders.

Thou speak*st the word (thy word's a law)

Thou spak’st and streight the blind man saw.

To speake and to make the blind man see,

Was never man Lord spake like. Thee

To speake thus, was to speake (say I)

Not his Eare, but to his Eye. 27

For Cr.ashaw, Christ’s words became a guideline such that would

suggest to him how and with what faith words., should be spoken.

Christ's words were not merely words but the incarnation of

faith. It is only words spoken with utter faith that are capable

of materializing the inner wishes of a speaker. Words that can

 83

appeal not to ears but to eyes is one more facet of how success­

ful words can prove to be in the expression of faith. Joseph H

Summers says in his book The Heirs of Donne that Crashaw's

Steps to the Temple is in fact "steps for happy souls to climb

28
heaven by". Summers goes to the extent of saying that Crashaw

and Cowley could be studied together because:

Crashaw equalled Cowley in wit

and neatness and far surpassed

him in warmth and imaginative

29
range.

Crashaw gave the title Steps to the Temple to his collection

because it, was a compliment to George Herbert. Alvarez finds

some difference between Donne’s conceits and those of Crashaw.

Donne's conceits are always related to the real subject of the

poems but in case of Crashaw, "his subjects are justified by

ornamentation they can be made to support." 30 Crashaw's images

develop on their own. His devotional poetry is not personal;

it is public in a way that he writes his devotional verses

keeping in view a common man, and how such a man approaches

Christ and His sacrifice. The two devices of paradox and orna­

mentation which Crashaw applied and employed in his poetry made

his poetry continental. The method of employing paradox is

well-exhibited in the poem "On our cruficied Lord Naked, and

bloody":

/
 84

Th' have left thee naked Lord, 0 that they had;

This Garment too I would they had deny'd.

Thee with thy selfe they have too richly

clad,

Opening the purple wardrobe of thy side.

0 never could be found Garments too good

For.thee to weare, but these, of thine

31
owne blood.

The word 'naked’ here serves the purpose of a paradox. The

Lord is naked and at the same time he is not naked. His enemies

have not allowed him clothes and hence, literally speaking, the

Lord is naked. But at the same time, the Lord is not naked

because he is dressed in his own blood. The paradox here gives

an emotional shock to a Christian devotee for whom it is un­

bearable to see Christ in that condition.

Like Crashaw, Cowley also belongs to the school of

Donne but then, Cowley is more famous for his plays rather than

for his poetry. He tried to maintain proximity with the classi­

cal writers and particularly with Milton because of which those

norms of poetry, which were to be found later in the Augustan

poetry, are found in his poetry.

The case is different with Andrew Marvell. Marvell

could be compared with Donne in the use of conceits and images.

 85

The difference between the two poets is that Donne employed

his conceits not only for his love poetry but also for his

Holy Sonnets while Andrew Marvell used his conceits mainly for

his love-poetry. Marvell used his insight chiefly in writing

the poems dealing with the theme of love in it. This brought

a rhetorical touch to his poetry, Marvell treated religion

simply as a norm of classicism because:

For Marvell, as for any other

educated man of his time,

the Bible, like the classics,

was a dimention of his

extraordinary civilized

sensibility, and was controlled

by it.32

The best of Marvell could be located in his love poems like

"The Definition of Love" and "To his Coy Mistress". In both

these poems Marvell's wit and far-fetched images are-properly

used. In "The Definition of Love", he compares the condition

of a lover who is separated from his beloved, with two distant

poles:

And therefore her Decrees of Steel

33
Us as the distant Poles have placed.
 86

In the same poem, he uses one more conceit and this reflects

his geometrical knowledge, used to depict the situation in

love:

As Lines So Loves oblique may well

Themselves in every Angle greet:

But ours so truly Paralel,

Though infinite can never meet.

34

Marvell states that Despair, Hope and Fate control the whole

world of love. In "To his Coy Mistress" we have one more

spark of his use of conceits:

My vegetable Love should grow

-7 C
Vaster than Empires and more slow. ^

The use of a botanical image to compare the growth of love is

something new of Marvell's poetry. For death, Marvell uses

the image "times winged charriot"

36 which at a time serves

two purposes: since it is a .'winged' charriot, it comes very

fast, suddenly and the word 'charriot' reminds the reader that

it comes to take us away. Simply three words 'times winged

charriot' portray the nature of death in totality. "The Garden"

gives a change to the taste of the readers where they find

Marvell as a tired lover, seeking solace and refuge in the

garden which may be far from the madding crowd:

 87

Fair Quiet, have I found thee here,

And Innocence thy sister dear!

Mistaken long I sought you then

In busie Companies of Men...

Fond Lovers, cruel as their flame,

Cut in these Trees their Mistress name

Little, Alas, they know, or heed

How far these Beauties Hers exceed!...

When we have run our passions heat

37
Love hither makes his best retreat.

It was Marvell’s belief that one can have real and ultimate

joy only if one goes to the lap of Nature. And, this is

done only when one gets tired of monotony of life and

transitory physical love. "The Mower against Garden"

depicts the same feeling of Marvell, i.e., how Nature gets

spoilt and polluted because of the practical approach of

Man to Nature.

Henry Vaughan found it more advisable to use words

for the expression of faith instead of spending them in

describing the beauty of Nature and how the passionate lovers

injure it. In fact, Vaughan is next to Herbert in writing

the devotional verse and it was impossible for him to escape

from the influence of Herbert’s religious poetry. There is

an echo of Herbert's poetry in the poems of Vaughan. Vaughan

has used, to a large extent, images of Nature for his poetic
 88

expressions. Poems like "The Shower”, "Mount of Olives",

"Midnight" are the examples of his use of Nature - images

for the religious poetry. According to A Alvarez, essentially

Vaughan was a lyric poet:

His poetry rises from a

single intense moment of

perception and concerns the

poet’s reaction to the object,

rather than the object itself.

In Silex Scintillans or Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations.

Vaughan is at his best in the expression of faith. Two poems
of Vaughan - "The Lamp" and "Christfe Nativity" - reflect his

total surrender to Christ and full faith in God’s grace. The

Lamp:

•Tis dead night round about: horror doth creep

And move on with the shades; stars nod and sleep,

And through the dark air spin a fiery thread

Such as doth gild the lazy glow-worm’s bed.

Yet, burn’st thou here, a full day; while spend

My rest in cares, and to the dark world lend

These flames, as thou dost thine to me; I watch

That hour, which must thy life and mine dispatch;

But still thou dost out-go me, I can see

Met in thy flames, all acts of piety;

Thy light, is Charity; thy heat is Zeal;

 89

And thy aspiring, active fires reveal

Devotion still on wing, then, thou dost weep

Still as thou burn’st, and the warm droopings

creep
To measure out thy length, as if thou'dst know

What stock, and how much time were left thee now:

Nor dost thou spend one tear in vain, for still

As thou dissolv'st to them, and they distil,

They’re stored up in the socket, where they lie

When all is spend, thy last, and sure supply,

And such is true repentance, ev'ry breath

We spend in sighs, is treasure after death;

Only, one point escapes thee; that thy oil

Is still out with thy flame, and so both fail;

But whensoe’er I’m out, both shall be in,

And where thou mad’st an end, there I'll begin.

Vaughan finds all positive elements in Christ. He knows that

he is surrounded by a dark night of all vices, but the light

of the burning candle - Christ keeps that darkness away.

Christ, for Vaughan, is an incarnation of light, charity, zeal

and blessings. In "Christ's Nativity" Vaughan portrays the

significance of confession and surrender which are the necessary

for earning Christ's blessings:

I would I had in my best part

Fit rooms for thee! or that my heart

 90

Were so clean as

Thy manger was !

But I am all filth, and obscene,

Yet, if thou wilt, thou canst make clean.

Vaughan is not afraid or ashamed of confessing the truth that

he is a sinner and he knows that he can hardly be mended even

by Christ. But, at the same time, he has full faith in the

mercy of Christ:

Sweet Jesu! will then; let no more

This leper haunt and scil thy door,

Cure him, ease him,

0 release him!

And let once more by mystic birth

The Lord of life be born in earth.

Ad

The lines are not merely a prayer of Vaughan; they serve as an

example of man's exclusive use of words to express faith,

Vaughan knew very well how to give proper poetic effect to his

inner thoughts. He uses the word 'leper' which is a suggestive

of physical decay, to enhance and uplift the idea of spiritual

decay. The waiting for Christ's rearrival is one more facet of

Vaughan's faith expressed through words:

Shall he that did come down from thence,

And here for us was slain,

Shall he be now cast off? no sense

Of all his woes remain?
 Can neither love, nor sufferings bind?

Are we all stone and earth?

Neither his bloody passions mind,

Nor one day bless his birth?

Alas, my God! Thy birth now here

Must not be numbered in the year.

42

Along with the expression of faith, Vaughan used words to

convey his anguish because what shocked him was the changed
attitude of the people to the sacrifice of Christ. This is

how, Vaughan extensively used words for the expression of his

faith. Alvarez does not consider his poetry original because

his poems bear an echo of Herbert's poetry. Alvarez states:

In some ways, he had more

in common with the learned

clergyman who used to edit

him than with any of the

43
school of Donne.

Barring Herbert., ; Vaughan was a ma^ior metaphysical poet to

write devotional verses, making poetry a medium for the

expression of faith. Vaughan and Herbert are the only two

of the metaphysicals who wrote poetry for the expression of

faith. To put it in simple terms, they prayed through their

poetry. But we must also note they did not write devotional

hymns although they would not have minded doing that also.
 92

The main concern of the present thesis is to examine

the complexities of Herbert’s poetry - complexities caused

by the blend of faith with poetic fervour. The complexities

can be examined because Herbert’s poetry is the most

transparent among the poetic works of the whole group of the

metaphysicals. Herbert, it can be said, could create a new

poetics as against the time-bound poetics which excluded the

value of faith in order to maintain the value of beauty. Here

is an attempt to trace that poetics which, in a sense, is a

sort of reconstruction because we do not find it in the form

of a critical treatise.
 93

MOTES

1 . Dr Samuel Johnson,

Lives of the English Poets : Volume - I, "Cowley"

(Oxford University Press, London: 1906), p. 12 f.

2. Ibid., p. 13.

3. Ibid., p. 15.

4. David Masson,

Drummond of Hawthorden
(Oxford University Press; London: 1873), p. 357.

5. Hugh Macdonald, (ed.)

The Poems of Andrew Marvell

(Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd., London: 1952), p. 35.

6. Joseph E. Duncan,

The Revival of Metaphysical Poetry

(University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolish: 1959), p.17.

7. Ibid., p. 17.

8. Edwin Honig and Oscar Williams, (ed.)

The Major Metaphysical Poets of the Seventeenth Century

"Going to Bed"
(Washington Square Press; New York: 1969), p. 122.

9. T S Eliot,

Selected Essays
(Faber and Faber: London: 1950), p. 246.
 94

10. Joseph Duncan. Op. Cit., p. 19.

11. Charles Merril, (ed.)

Letters to Several Persons of Honour: John Donne

(R.K.P., New York: 1910), p. 61.

12. Roger Fowler, (ed.)

(Routledge and Kegan Paul Ltd., London: 1973), p. 7.

v

13. William Empson,

Seven Types of Ambiguity

(Meredian Books; New York: 1957), p. 3.

14. Herbert Grierson,

The Background of English Literature and Other Essays

(Chatto and Windus; London: 1962), p, 108.

15. Ibid., Loc. Cit.

16. Ibid., p. 107.

17. Ibid., p. 108.

18. Ibid., p. 122.

19. Ibid., p. 129.

20. Edwin Honig and Oscar Williams (ed.) Op. Cit.

"To his Coy Mistress", p. 730.

21. Frank Kermode,

Selected Prose of T S Eliot
(Faber and Faber; London: 1975), p. 64.
 95

22. Ibid., p. 65.

23. Edwin Honig and Oscar Williams (ed.) Op. Cit.

"Holy Sonnet-I", p. 277.

24. Ibid., "Holy Sonnet-IX", p. 280.

25. Ibid., "Holy Sonnet-III", p. 278

26. Ibid., "Matthew-8", p. 519.

27. Ibid., "Matthew-9"» p. 520.

28. Joseph H Summers

The Heirs of Donne and Johnson
(Chatto and Windus; London: 1970), p. 102.

29. Ibid., p. 108.

30. A Alvarez,

The School of Donne

(Chattor and Windus; London: 1961), p. 95.

31. Edwin Honig and Oscar Williams (ed.) Op. Cit.

"On our crucified Lord Naked and bloody", p. 528.

32. A Alvarez Op. Cit., p. 107.

33. Edwin Honig and Oscar Williams (ed.) Op. Cit.

"The Definition of Love", p. 740.

34. Ibid., "The Definition of Love", Loc. Cit.

 36

35. Ibid., "To his Coy Mistress", p. 729

36. Ibid., "To his Coy Mistress", p. 730

37. Ibid., "The Garden", p. 749.

00

A. Alvarez, Op.Cit., p. 89.

39. Louis L. Martz, (ed.)

George Herbert and Henry Vaughan "The Lamp"

(Oxford University Press; Oxford: 1986), p. 264.

40. Ibid., "Christ"s Nativity", p. 298.

41. Ibid., "Christ's Nativity", Loc. Cit.

42. Ibid., "Christ’s Nativity", p. 299.

43. A Alvarez, Op. Cit., p. 85.