Introduction

The term metaphysical can be interpreted as beyond (meta) physical nature (physical).
Dryden was the first to use the term in connection with Donne by saying that he affects the
metaphysics. Dr. Johnson later described Donne and his followers as the metaphysical poets.
Metaphysical Poetry is defined more in terms of style than content or a governing ideology. John
Donne, Andrew Marvell, George Herbert, Henry Vaughn, Richard Crashaw and Abraham cowley
are the poets in contention. The word 'Metaphysical' came later, in the contemporary period, these
poems were called 'strong lines'. However, we cannot call Donnes poetry metaphysical if the
term is to imply the exposition of some philosophical system of the universe, or speculation about
the nature of things. Furthermore, though Dr. Johnson used the term in a derogatory sense for
Donne, the qualities which he enumerated about Donnes poetry are valid.

In brief, the term metaphysical poetry implies the characteristics of complexity, intellectual
tone, abundance of subtle wit, fusion of intellect and emotion, colloquial argumentative tone,
conceits (which are always witty and sometimes fantastic) scholarly allusions, dramatic tone, and
philosophic or reflective element. Concentration is an important quality of metaphysical poetry in
general and Donnes poetry in particular.

The Metaphysical style and other elements as evident in the poetry of John Donne are as follows--
1.The concietful style--combining distant and far fetched analogies e.g. lovers' hearts and
hemispheres
2. The allusive style--references to a vast area of discursive knowledge from mythology to
science.
3. The poetry of erudition, displaying knowledge
4. Argumentative style--using logical forms, premise-conclusion structures
5. The epigrammatic style--working by the means of short pithy statements, paradoxes and ironies.
6. Parodic and undercutting style, marked with latent sarcasm
7. A critical and realist stance in terms of love-poetry--candid admission of sexuality and
physicality in love, the accommodation of plurality in it, the body-soul dialogue in love, critique
of the Elizabethan romantic idealism.

In all his poems, the reader is held to one idea or line of argument His poems are brief and closely
woven. In The Ecstasy, for instance, the principal argument is that through the different acts of
love the function of man as man is being worthily performed. The poet develops the theme
without digression.
An expanded epigram would be a fitting description of a metaphysical poem. No word is wasted,
and nothing described in detail. There is a sinewy strength in the style. Verse forms are usually
simple, but always suitable in enforcing the sense of the poem.
Fondness for conceits is a major characteristic of metaphysical poetry. Of course, all comparisons
discover likeness in things unlike: but in a conceit we are made to concede the likeness even while
being strongly conscious of the unlikeness. Donne often employs fantastic comparisons. The most
famous and striking one is the comparison of a man who travels and his beloved who stays at
home to a pair of compasses, in A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning. A clever, though obviously
frivolous conceit is employed in The Flea where the insect is called the marriage-bed and the
marriage-temple of the lovers because it has bitten them and sucked their blood. In his religious
poetry, too, Donne uses far-fetched conceits. In the Holy Sonnet If poisonous minerals, there is an
image of the poets tears mingling with Christs blood and taking the form of a learned conceit
of the sphere and its intelligence with its correspondence, between microcosm and
macrocosm. While these conceits evoked Dr. Johnsons displeasure, they are fairly well enjoyed
by modern readers.

Wit striking and subtle marks metaphysical poetry. Indeed, the conceits especially display a
formidable wit. So do the various allusions and images relating to practically all areas of nature
and art and learning. Allusions to medicine, Cosmology, ancient myth, contemporary discoveries,
history, law and art abound in Donnes poetry. The hard core of logic is undeniable in The Flea,
for instance, though the poem is obviously light-hearted. Donnes wit assumes different moods
and attitudes reflecting his perception of the complexity of life. Wit makes itself evident in the
paradoxes employed in the poem. In The Legacy the lover is his own executor and legacy.
Such paradoxical statements are to be found in several poems.
In Death be not proud, he says: Death thou shall die. Batter my heart is also full of such
paradoxical statements.
Combination of passion and thought is a peculiar characteristic of metaphysical poetry, and is
another form of wit. Thus there is a unification of sensibility, to use T.S. Eliots phrase, in
metaphysical poetry. There is in Donnes poems an intellectual analysis of emotion. Every lyric
arises out of some emotional situation, but the emotion is not merely expressed; it is analysed.
A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning proves that lovers need not mourn at parting; The
Canonization establishes that lovers are saints of love; The Good Morrow asserts that lovers are
the best possible hemispheres who make up a complete world.

Argumentation and reasoning balance the passion in Donnes poems. No one can deny the
passion in The Sun Rising,
but there is also plenty of argumentation to prove that the sun has no power over the lovers, as
love knows no season or clime. Similarly, in The Canonization, there is passion expressed through
beautiful metaphors:

Call us what you will, we are made such by love;

Call her one, me another fly.
We are tapers too, and at our own cost die.

But at the same time, the tone of the poem is intellectual and there is plenty of complexity
involved in the conceits and allusions, such as the Phoenix riddle. Aire and Angels is highly
refined in thought and subtlety, even while being a passionate utterance. In A Valediction: Of
Weeping we have an exquisite blend of intense concentrated passion and profound thought.
The use of colloquial speech marks metaphysical poetry, as far as Donne is concerned. This is
specially apparent in the abrupt, conversational opening of many of his poems, for instance:
For Gods sake hold thy tongue, and let me love
(The Canonization)

Busy old fool, unruly sun

(The Sun Rising)

Donne arrests our attention both by the content and the dramatic style of his poetry.
Donnes love poems are especially entitled to be called metaphysical in the true sense. Poems
such as The Good Morrow, The Anniversary, The Canonization
and The Ecstasy raise, even though they do not explicitly discuss, the great metaphysical question
of the relation of the spirit and the senses. They raise it not as an abstract problem, but in the effort
to make the experience of the union of two human powers in love, and the union of two human
beings in love, apprehensible. Often Donne speaks of the soul and of spiritual love. The Ecstasy
speaks of the souls of the lovers which come out of their bodies to negotiate with one another.

Conclusion

Intellect and wit blending with emotion and feeling marks metaphysical poetry, especially that of
Donne. Indeed, Donne represents very well the school of poetry somewhat vaguely called
metaphysical. He brought the whole of his experience into his poetry. He is erudite, the
monarch of wit, colloquial, rhetorical or familiar. He chooses his language from the court or the
camp, the jargon of law, study, or the marketplace. These qualities are present in Donnes poetry
in the earliest of his love poems as well as in the later religious poems. Grierson aptly sums up:
Donne is metaphysical not only by virtue of his scholasticism but by the deep reflective interest
in the experiences of which his poetry is the expression, the new psychological curiosity with
which he writes of love and religion.