1.

Consider the means by which Donne and Milton convey the intensity of
feeling in their works. How ‘Metaphysical’ are those means?

The religious metamorphism of the 16th and 17th century shattered the old ideals in

literature and brought into Europe the metaphysical school of thought which examined man’s

relationship with God and the purpose of human existence from a logical dimension. The

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary [2015] defines ‘metaphysical poetry’ as being a “highly

intellectualized poetry marked by bold and ingenious, incongruous imagery, complexity and

subtlety of thought, frequent use of paradox and often by deliberate harshness or rigidity of

expression.” Metaphysical poetry became a new channel of expression dealing with emotional,

physical and spiritual issues. Both John Donne and John Milton used a more realistic and

intellectual poetry to convey their feelings. They tried to give logical reasons to concepts and

psychologically analyze the emotion of physical and metaphysical love by the inventive use of

conceits and witty arguments.

James Blair Leishman characterized metaphysical poetry as “the dialectal expression of

personal drama” in his Monarch of Wit (1667). Likewise, John Donne’s Holy Sonnets clearly

display a shift from the conventional forms to an individual exploration of religious queries. The

repetition of the personal pronoun “me” in the sonnets shows that the feelings and thoughts are

very personal to the poet. The sonnets contain considerable intellectual contents but this does not

mean that they are academic, boring and without feeling. John Donne is very passionate and

emotionally engaged but he manages to combine beauty and eloquence as well as the profundity

of thought and passion. Every line of his sonnets arises out of some emotional turmoil but the

emotion is not just expressed; it is critically analyzed. Donne always uses wit and metaphysical
conceits to win an argument or to reach a conclusion. These metaphysical conceits illustrate and

examine ideas in a detailed and over-complex manner which often result with an effect of

surprise or ambiguity. For instance, in the first quatrain of Holy Sonnet 10, Donne directs the

readers in his critical reaction, suggesting, “For those, whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow,

Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou kill me”, saying that Death thinks he is "overthrowing"

men when he takes their lives, causing them to fall. But instead, Death makes them rise as death

is the means by which man finds resurrection, making them "rise again".

The nature of argumentation differs in his sonnets. The lexical set of violent and powerful

verbs like “break, “blowe” and “burn” in Holy Sonnet 14 shows how violent Donne feels

towards his decision, his position, himself, his religion and his God unlike Holy Sonnet 1 where

Donne is quite peaceful and humble towards his subject. Donne’s use of obliquity which means

“to morally and mentally deviate” (OED) to explore moral concepts but to deviate from the

traditional perception of those ideas. Donne as a pastor-poet shocks his readers by the inclusion

of sexual imagery as a channel of expressing his desire for metaphysical and physical love. His

desires to be “ravished” in Holy Sonnet 14 can be related to the Biblical idea that submission to

God can make him acquire absolute closeness to him. This distorts the conventional perceptions

by demonstrating “that sexual passion enhances every Christian’s spiritual experiences.”(Sarah

Lansdowski, 2007) The use of modal verbs “That I may rise/ But oh it must burn” shows the

uncertainty that Donne feels. The real drama of the sonnets lies in the use of pre-modifiers and

intensifiers “Yet dearly I love you” to emphasize the passion of Donne’s feelings.
 As a thinker and a moralist, John Milton belonged to the Puritan age, but as an artist, he

completely belonged to the renaissance. His Paradise Lost is a “great argument” (Paradise Lost,

1.24) where he combined religious theology and humanism which was “unattempted yet in prose

and rhyme.” (Paradise Lost, 1.16) The argument is meant to “justify the ways of God to men”

(Paradise lost, 1.26) through the use of arguments, proof and reason. The tone of this epic poem

is not overly emotional, but restrained and sober. The grandest feature of John Milton’s Paradise

Lost is sublimity which transports the readers through the medium of blank verse to heaven and

hell, where they are able to have personal experience of God’s wrath and to feel the desperation

of Satan who has been thrown out of heaven due to his transgression. Longinus defined sublimity

as “a distinction and excellence in expression.”(On the sublime, 76) His sublime poetry is able to

stir emotions and cause a synesthetic mixture of the senses.(On the sublime, 133) The readers are

not physically able to see the darkness of hell and the light in heaven but through the medium of

the written words, the readers are able to visualize Milton’s world. The narrator’s diction and

syntax successfully conveys his feelings of melancholy due to his blindness and allows the

readers to participate in his darkness. The sublime transcends all boundaries of the physical

world and unites the artist with his audience.

The grandeur that Milton grants Satan is just an artistic requirement. Satan is a relatable

character; he is a sinner just as human beings are. It is easy to acknowledge his ability to deceive

even if he is the personification of vice. John Milton uses epic similes elevates his diction which

makes readers feel sympathy to Satan and the Fallen Angels and aligns humanity to these tragic

characters. The comparison of the Fallen Angels to “fallen leaves” which is very depressing and

highlights their downfall from their previous glory. The poem mainly focused on Satan in book 1
and 2 and this is why the readers could interpret him as the hero solely because he was the

protagonist at that point. The use of rhetoric questions is a feature which makes the language of

the poem more elevated and convincing. Milton’s blank verse in the poem is in full accord with

the grandeur of the epic’s theme. The combination of the style and the content makes it a great

epic.

Both John Milton and John Donne used metaphysical devices to examine religious and

moral questions. Metaphysical devices added more drama and intellectuality to their poetry

which makes the readers pause and find optimism the conveyed message. Isn’t that what great

poetry is about anyway. Nothing through that time has done its work better than metaphysical

poetry.
 Bibliography

 Metaphysical Poetry noun. (2015) Merriam Webster. [Online]. Available from:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/metaphysical%20poetry. [Accessed on
06/02/16]

 Milton, John. (1667). Paradise Lost. London: Penguin Classics, 2006. Reprint

 Farooq, Aleena. (2015) ‘On Sublimity in Milton’s Paradise Lost’ Slideshare [Online]
November 19, 2015. Available from: http://www.slideshare.net/AleeenaFarooq/ on-
sublimity-in-miltons-paradise-lost [ Accessed on 12/02/16]

 Leishman, J. Blair. (1967) ‘The Monarch of Wit’ Goodreads [Online] Available from:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4776986-the-monarch-of-wit [Accessed on
12/02/16]

 Lang, Andrew. (2006) ‘On the sublime by Longinus’ The Project Gutenburg EBook
[Online] March 10, 2006. Available from : http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17957/17957-
h/17957-h.htm [Accessed on 16/02/16]

 Mallett, Phillip. (1983) ‘Notes on Selected Poems: John Donne’ Longman York Press.

 Landowski, Sarah. (2007) ‘The Purpose of Sexual Imagery to Convey a Christian

Message in Renaissance Poetry’ Wordpress [Online] May 12, 2008. Available from:
https://sarahannlandowski.wordpress.com/ [Accessed on 16/02/16]

 Kolohe INC. (2006) ‘John Donne’s metaphysical poetry’ Wordpress [Online] June 29,
2006. Available: https://koloheinc.wordpress.com/2006/06/29/john-donne%E2%80%99s-
metaphysical-poetry/ [Accessed on 16/02/16]