Metaphysical Poetry.

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Metaphysical Poetry

By itself, metaphysical means dealing with the relationship between spirit to matter or the ultimate nature of reality. The Metaphysical poets are obviously not the only poets to deal with this subject matter, so there are a number of other qualities involved as well:

Use of ordinary speech mixed with puns, paradoxes and conceits

The excitement of wit, which in the 17th century meant a nimbleness of thought; a sense of fancy and originality in figures of speech.

Abstruse terminology often drawn from science or law

Often poems are presented in the form of an argument

In love poetry, the metaphysical poets often draw on ideas from Renaissance Neo-Platonism to show the relationship between the soul and body and the union of lovers' souls

They also try to show a psychological realism when describing the tensions of love.

George Herbert's poem 'Love' combines metaphysical poetry with a strong feeling of sense and adoration. The range of Herbert's poetry is limited; he only wrote on religious themes and used short lyrics. An aspect of Herbert's work that strikes the reader when reading these poems is his