metaphysical poetry (page 4)

Metaphysical Poetry: Page 4

·         17^th century English writers

·         Ex- Abraham Cowley, Richard Crashaw, John Donne, George Herbert, Andrew Marvell and Henry Vaughan

·         Used simple events and expanded them into broad abstract ideas

·         Unusual/ paradoxical images

·         Writers were intellectual

·         Wrote against the backdrop of revolutionary political developments:

o   Continuous internal conflict

o   The impeachment and beheading (1649) of King Charles I

o   The Civil War which followed this

·         Self-conscious/ self-questioning

·         Usage of metaphors

·         Abrupt opening

·         Witty

·         Conceits