17th Century Poetry (Cavalier and Metaphysical Poets)

Introduction to Seventeenth Century Poetry
I. Important events in 17th century England:

1. 1603 the death of Queen Elizabeth I.
2. King James VI of Scotland comes to power in England, becoming King James I
of England.
3. He also united the three kingdoms of England, Ireland, and Scotland, forming
the United Kingdom we know of today.
4. He also authorized the first English translation of the bible in 1611.
5. Conflict started to arise between Protestants and the Catholics resulting in the
Thirty Years War 1618-1648
6. 1625 the death of King James I.
7. 1625 King James’ son Charles I came to power, and he failed to control the
parliament. And he later got executed in 1649.
8. 1649-1660 the UK was a republic known as the Common Wealth of England.
9. This had tremendous effect on literature because the puritan (a radical group of
protestants), who controlled the parliament were strictly against poetry, theatre,
or any form of entertainment since they believed in the purification of the soul
through constant prayer, and/or other religious activity. Thus, the poets and
writers of the period started to write more about the afterlife, religion, or other
theological matters like heaven and hell.
II. The Cavaliers and the Metaphysical Poets:
Two main kinds of poets can be noticed when we study the 17 th century, and they are
the Cavaliers and the Metaphysical poets. The Cavaliers poets were generally in
support of the royal family. Their poems are short, easy going, and are mainly about
the physical pleasures of this world. On the other side we have the Metaphysical
poets. These poets were not against physical pleasures, but rather they preferred to
write about more complex matters. The cavaliers were not scholars at the universities,
not that they were uneducated, they were, it’s most of them did not hold any college
degree, while the metaphysical poets were scholars at well-respected universities such
as Oxford. When we study the 17th century poetry, we usually just study the
Metaphysical poets, not because the Cavaliers did not write good poetry. They did.
But rather because the Metaphysical poets wrote more complex poems. However,
among the poets who wrote in that style (metaphysical, which is a term coined by
critics in later centuries) only John Donne and a small number of them get to be much
remembered and studied, the others would be George Herbert and Henry Vaughn.
III. Characteristics of Metaphysical Poetry

1. The group of metaphysical poets that we mentioned earlier is obviously not the
only poets or philosophers or writers that deal with metaphysical questions. There
are other more specific characteristics that prompted Johnson to place the 17th-
century poets together.
2. Wit. Perhaps the most common characteristic is that metaphysical poetry
contained large doses of wit. In fact, although the poets were examining serious
questions about the existence of God or whether a human could possibly perceive
the world, the poets were sure to ponder those questions with humor.
3. Departure from poetic correctness: Conceits, paradoxes and puns.
Metaphysical poetry also sought to shock the reader and wake him or her up from
his or her normal existence in order to question the unquestionable. The poetry
often mixed ordinary speech with paradoxes and puns. The results were strange,
comparing unlikely things, such as lovers to a compass or the soul to a drop of
dew. These weird comparisons were called conceits. One important feature of
metaphysical conceits is their use of pseudo reasoning.
4. Metaphysical poetry also explored a few common themes. They all had a
religious sentiment. In addition, many of the poems explored the theme of carpe
diem (seize the day) and investigated the humanity of life.
5. Direct sensuous Apprehension of thought. This refers to their capacity to for
direct sensuous apprehension of thought, or a recreation of thought into feeling.
This is particularly true of Donne.
6. Abrupt, personal openings of poems.

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Introduction to Seventeenth Century Poetry

I. Important events in 17th century England:

II. The Cavaliers and the Metaphysical Poets:

III. Characteristics of Metaphysical Poetry

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