The term "Metaphysical poets" was created by the critic Samuel Johnson to describe a group of 17th-century English poets who were known for using clever comparisons in their work and focusing more on spoken words than musical or lyrical styles. These poets were not officially connected, and few were respected until the 20th century, when their importance was recognized.

Because the group lacked a clear unity and had many different styles, some suggest that calling them "Baroque poets" after their time period might be more helpful. After the Metaphysical style became known, it was sometimes used by other, especially younger poets, in situations where it seemed appropriate.

Origin of the name

In the chapter about Abraham Cowley in his book Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets (1779–81), Samuel Johnson wrote about the early 17th century, when "a group of writers appeared who may be called the metaphysical poets." Johnson did not necessarily mean the word "metaphysical" was used in its strict sense. Instead, he likely referred to a remark made by John Dryden, who criticized John Donne for using complex ideas from philosophy in his poetry, even in love poems where simple emotions should dominate. Dryden said Donne confused readers, especially women, with difficult philosophical thoughts instead of touching their hearts with gentle expressions of love. Johnson noted that Cowley followed Donne’s style, but this was a mistake.

Before Dryden, the only writer to comment on this new poetic style was Drummond of Hawthornden. In a letter from the 1630s, he claimed that some writers were changing poetry by removing its natural qualities and replacing them with abstract philosophical ideas and complex terms, stripping it of the traditions that had pleased audiences for thousands of years.

Criticism

During the Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation, different religious and philosophical movements developed. These included Aristotelianism, Scholasticism, and Patristics. Later, the School of Salamanca developed a form of second scholasticism, while Lutheran scholasticism emerged during Lutheran orthodoxy. Ramism influenced Reformed orthodoxy, and the Metaphysical poets were part of the Church of England.

The Jesuits opposed Jansenism, and the Labadists opposed the Jesuits. Pietism challenged orthodox Lutherans, and the Nadere Reformatie was a movement within Dutch Calvinism. Richard Hooker criticized the Ramists.

Neologists opposed Lutherans, and Spinozists opposed Dutch Calvinists. Deists opposed Anglicanism, and John Locke disagreed with Bishop Stillingfleet.

Samuel Johnson criticized the Metaphysical poets, saying their work focused too much on showing knowledge through rhyme rather than creating true poetry. He believed their verses were hard to enjoy because they forced unrelated ideas together and used complex language. Johnson repeated earlier critics' disapproval of the poetic style known as Augustan poetry. Though Johnson gave the Metaphysical poets their name, others, like John Dryden and Joseph Addison, had already criticized their use of elaborate metaphors and wordplay.

In the 1920s, T.S. Eliot helped highlight the importance of the Metaphysical poets through his writing and by using their style in his own work. By 1961, A. Alvarez noted that interest in the Metaphysical poets had declined as modern poetry moved in a different direction.

In the 1980s, some critics argued that emphasizing the Metaphysical poets was an effort to shape a specific view of 17th-century English poetry. However, Colin Burrow, writing in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, said the term "Metaphysical poets" still has value. He noted that John Donne's poetry influenced later writers and that the word "metaphysical" was used by 17th-century poets themselves. Still, the term separates English poets from others in Europe and America who shared similar styles. Since the 1960s, some scholars have suggested grouping these poets under the broader term "Baroque poets" to better include all related writers.

Defining the canon

There is no agreement among scholars about which English poets or poems belong to the Metaphysical genre. When Johnson first used the term, he mentioned only three poets: Abraham Cowley, John Donne, and John Cleveland. Later, Colin Burrow identified Donne, George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, Andrew Marvell, and Richard Crashaw as important figures in the genre, while also listing many others whose work shares similar traits.

Two important anthologists helped identify common writing styles among 17th-century poets. Herbert Grierson's book Metaphysical Lyrics and Poems of the Seventeenth Century (1921) was significant in defining which poets are included in the Metaphysical group. Helen Gardner's book Metaphysical Poets (1957) added poets like William Shakespeare and Sir Walter Raleigh, and also included writers from the Restoration period, such as Edmund Waller and Rochester. However, as Burrow noted, her wide selection made the style so similar to all 17th-century poetry that it became hard to distinguish.

Later additions to the Metaphysical group include sacred poets from England and America who were largely unknown for many years. John Norris was better known as a philosopher. Thomas Traherne's poetry was not published until the early 20th century. Edward Taylor's work, now considered the greatest English-language poet from North America, was discovered in 1937.

A sense of community

In 1958, Alvarez offered a new way to understand the Metaphysical poets, focusing on the group of friends around John Donne. These friends were young professionals who shared an interest in poetry. Many of them wrote poetry themselves, though few published their work. Instead, they shared their poems in handwritten copies. Some poems from this group were later mistakenly credited to Donne by editors.

A younger group of courtiers, some connected to Donne’s circle, initially imitated Donne’s style to show their wit. Among them were Lord Herbert of Cherbury and his brother George, whose mother, Magdalen, received verse letters from Donne. Later, George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, and Richard Crashaw, who knew each other, became religious figures and expanded their earlier secular style into religious themes. A later group of Metaphysical poets, writing during the Commonwealth, became more repetitive and less lively. These poets included Cleveland and his followers, as well as Cowley and Marvell.

According to Alvarez, all these poets shared a respect for intelligence, not metaphysics. Samuel Johnson’s comment that writing in their style required reading and thinking echoed earlier praise for Donne. For example, Jasper Mayne noted that readers of Donne’s work were seen as clever. These poems often had a strong speaking voice, starting with rough verse in satires by Donne and others, then evolving into thoughtful religious poems with conversational openings. Helen Gardner observed that this poetry often felt like a personal conversation, addressing lovers, God, or a congregation.

Another way to understand the community of readers is to look at who wrote about whom in their poetry. After Donne’s death, his friend Edward Herbert wrote an elegy filled with elaborate Metaphysical logic. Similarly, Abraham Cowley wrote elegies for Crashaw and Henry Wotton. While Cowley briefly acknowledged Crashaw as a poet, his focus was on Crashaw’s moral character. For Wotton, Cowley’s elegy focused on Wotton’s public life and role as an ambassador.

Twelve "Elegies upon the Author" were included in the first collected edition of Donne’s work, published in 1633. These poems were often written in the Metaphysical style. Half were written by clergymen, few of whom are remembered for their poetry. Among those remembered were Henry King and Jasper Mayne, who later left poetry for religious work. Bishop Richard Corbet contributed a humorous poem. Other churchmen included Henry Valentine, Edward Hyde, and Richard Busby. Poets like Lucius Cary, Thomas Carew, and Sidney Godolphin were linked to the Great Tew Circle and served as courtiers.

Izaak Walton had a less direct connection to Donne’s circle. He knew members of the Great Tew Circle but was working for Henry Wotton when he wrote an elegy for Donne. After Wotton’s death, Walton completed a biography of Donne, published in 1640. He later wrote a biography of Wotton, published in 1651, and a biography of George Herbert in 1670. The relationships between Donne’s elegists were often professional, not close friendships. Once the poetic style was established, it remained a model for later writers who might not fully adopt it.

Characteristics

Grierson tried to describe the main features of Metaphysical poetry in the introduction to his collection of poems. He believed this style began by moving away from the artificial and overly formal style used by earlier poets, instead using language that felt more natural and less influenced by traditional poetic rules. Johnson agreed, noting that the new style avoided copying descriptions from others, using tired comparisons, or relying on old-fashioned images.

Grierson also pointed out that Metaphysical poetry had a strong connection to European Baroque writing, which used imaginative comparisons and exaggerated expressions that were popular across Europe. Johnson had previously mentioned this influence, saying the style was inspired by the Italian poet Marino and his followers. This style, known as Concettismo in Italian and Conceptismo in Spanish, was especially marked by the use of clever comparisons. Crashaw, for example, translated works from Marino. Grierson also noted that Robert Southwell, a slightly older poet included in Gardner’s collection as a precursor, learned from the Italian poetic style and knew Spanish.

The European influence on Catholic poets like Crashaw and Southwell has been discussed by other critics. One 1960s critic said that examining the Baroque style in 17th-century English poetry might have replaced earlier discussions about Metaphysical poetry. Southwell is considered an important early example of this style because he spent his early years outside England. Similarly, Crashaw’s time away from England made him, in the view of Mario Praz, "the greatest example of the Baroque style in any language."

Crashaw is often mentioned by Harold B. Segel when describing the traits of Baroque poetry. Segel also compared the work of Metaphysical poets to similar poets in Europe and other parts of the world. The use of clever comparisons was common not only in Europe but also among English Cavalier poets, such as Carew and Godolphin, who wrote elegies inspired by Donne. Segel gave examples of how repetition builds tension in poems, such as Henry King’s work in English, Ernst Christoph Homburg’s in German, and Jan Andrzej Morsztyn’s in Polish. He also noted that Marvell’s "To His Coy Mistress" is a famous example of the exaggerated language typical of both Metaphysical poets and Baroque writing.

The way George Herbert and other poets used words in complex and varied ways, as described by Dryden, is similar to the poem "Constantijn Huygens’ Sondagh (Sunday)," which repeats the word "sun" in different forms. This kind of wordplay was not limited to Metaphysical poets. For example, Shakespeare’s "Sonnet 135" uses multiple meanings of the word "will," and John Davies’ poem "That the Soul is more than a Perfection or Reflection of the Sense" explores the word "sense." These techniques were common in Baroque writing and used by poets not usually linked to the Metaphysical style.

Another notable example is found in Baroque poems that celebrate "black beauty," which contrasts traditional ideas of feminine beauty with unusual examples. This theme appears in sonnets by Philip Sidney, who contrasts "black" with "bright"; in Shakespeare’s work, where "black" is compared to different meanings of "fair"; and in Edward Herbert’s poetry, where "black," "dark," and "night" are contrasted with "light," "bright," and "spark." In English poetry, black hair and eyes are the focus, while Romance poets often focus on skin color in similar ways. Examples include Edward Herbert’s "La Gialletta Gallante or The sun-burn’d exotic Beauty" and Marino’s "La Bella Schiave" (The Beautiful Slave). Luis de Góngora’s "En la fiesta del Santísimo Sacramento" (At the Feast of the Blessed Sacrament) features a dramatic dialogue between two Black women discussing their beauty.

Many of these creative uses of language rely on long-standing literary traditions and are only linked to specific schools of thought based on how they are handled. However, English poets often went further by using ideas and images from scientific or geographical discoveries to explore religious and moral questions, sometimes with a focus on detailed reasoning. These elements made the work of Metaphysical poets more thoughtful and deeper compared to the more playful and decorative style of their Baroque contemporaries.

Earlier, ideas of Platonic love had appeared in the love poetry of other poets, though they were often mocked. However, Edward Herbert and Abraham Cowley treated the theme of "Platonic Love" more seriously in their poems with that title.

In the poetry of Henry Vaughan and Thomas Traherne, Neo-Platonic ideas played a key role. These ideas helped create powerful poems that explore the soul’s memory of perfect beauty in the eternal world and its spiritual impact.

Stylistic echoes

Before the term "Metaphysical" was used, this poetic style was already being used by writers outside the groups of 17th-century poets, especially young men who had not yet chosen a specific writing style. John Milton's poems from his time at university are an example of this. Some of these poems were published early in his career, long before they were included in his Poems published in 1645. His poem "On the Morning of Christ's Nativity" (1629) and "On Shakespear" (1630) are found in Grierson's collection of poems. "On Shakespear" and "On the University Carrier" (1631) are also in Gardner's collection. At the time Milton wrote these poems, John Cleveland, who was slightly younger, was a fellow student at Christ's College, Cambridge. Cleveland was more deeply influenced by the Metaphysical style than Milton was.

Milton used different writing styles depending on his subjects. For his "Nativity Ode" and a poem praising Shakespeare, he used elaborate comparisons typical of the Baroque style. For his poems about Thomas Hobson, he used clever and surprising statements. The poem titled "An Epitaph on the Admirable Dramaticke Poet, W. Shakespeare" was published anonymously in the second edition of Shakespeare's plays in 1632. The poems about Thomas Hobson were later included in collections called A Banquet of Jests (1640, reprinted 1657) and Wit Restor’d (1685). These collections included poems from both Milton's 1645 and 1673 poetry collections.

John Dryden began writing during the time when Cleveland, Cowley, and Marvell were first publishing their work. Before entering university, Dryden contributed a poem about the death of Henry Lord Hastings to a collection called Lachrymae Musarum (1649). His poem uses images from astronomy, surprising statements, exaggerated descriptions, and unusual word choices, such as "universal metampsychosis." It also uses irregular rhyme patterns. This poem is often described as showing the extremes of the Metaphysical style. Other poems in the same collection, like John Denham's "Elegy on the death of Henry Lord Hastings" and Marvell's "Upon the death of the Lord Hastings," share similar features. Some scholars suggest that the collection included hidden messages supporting the Royalist cause, as it was risky to openly mourn the recently executed king.

The writing styles of young Milton and young Dryden were influenced by the context of their times. Both later developed very different writing styles and were not considered Metaphysical poets. Alexander Pope also did not become a Metaphysical poet, but his early works show interest in earlier Metaphysical writers. Pope imitated Cowley's work in his early poems. As a young man, Pope began adapting Donne's second satire, adding the fourth satire by 1735. Pope also wrote "Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady" (1717), which included clever comparisons similar to those in Donne's "Second Anniversary." By the time Pope wrote this, the Metaphysical style was no longer popular, and a new writing tradition had taken its place. However, references to Metaphysical writers still resonated with readers at the start of the 18th century.