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John Donne a metaphysical poet
Dryden once remarked:“Donne affects metaphysics not only in his satires but in amorous verses, too,where nature only should reign.”Though Donne was
influenced by the sixteenth and the seventeenth centurypoets, yet he did not tread on the beaten track. His concept of poetry wasunconventional. In his poetry, intellect takes the form,
primarily, of wit by whichheterogeneous ideas are yoked together by violence. The seventeenth centurypoets labeled his poetry as ‘strong line poetry’, mainly, on account of his
conciseexpression and his deliberate toughness. In his life, he was never called ametaphysical poet. After his death, his poetry was re-evaluated and some other important features were
found in it, which won the name of a metaphysical poetfor Donne.Grierson’s defines metaphysical poetry as:“Poetry inspired by a philosophical concept of the universe and the role
assignedto human spirit in the great drama of existence”.This definition is based on the metaphysical poetry of Dante, Goethe and Yeats.So “metaphysical” is applicable to poetry who is
highly philosophical or whichtouches philosophy.Combination of passion and thought characterizes his work. His use of conceit isoften witty and sometimes fantastic. His hyperboles are
outrageous and hisparadoxes astonishing. He mixes fact and fancy in a manner which astounds us.He fills his poems with learned and often obscure illusions besides, some of hispoems are
metaphysical in literal sense, they are philosophical and reflective,and they deal with concerns of the spirit or soul.Conceit is an ingredient which gives a special character to Donne’s
metaphysical
poetry. Some of his conceits are far-fetched, bewildering and intriguing. He weldsdiverse passions into something harmonious.“When thou weep’st, unkindly kinde,My lifes blood doth
decay.”“When a teare falls, that thou falst which it bore,”“Here lies a she-sun and a he-moon there”“All women shall adore us, and some men.”His approach is based on logical reasoning
and arguments. He providesintellectual parallels to his emotional experiences. His modus operandi was “tomove from the contemplation of fact to a deduction from it and, thence, to
aconclusion”. He contemplates fidelity in a woman but, in reality, draws itimpossible of find a faithful woman.“No whereLives a woman true, and faire.”He does not employ emotionally
exciting rhythm. His poetry goes on lower ebb.Even his love poems do not excite emotions in us. Even in a “Song” whileseparating, he is logical that he is not parting for weariness of
his beloved.“But since that IMust dye at last, ’tis best,To use my selfe in jestThus by fain’d deaths to dye;”His speculations and doctrines are beyond common human experience. Hisideas
are beyond the understanding of a layman and are a blend of intellect andemotions making his approach dialectical and scholastic. He asks his beloved in“The Message” to keep his eyes
and heart because they might have learntcertain ills from her, but then, he asks her to give them back so that he may laughat her and see her dying when some other proves as false to
her as she hasproved to the poet.Donne was a self-conscious artist, therefore, had a desire to show off hislearning. In his love poetry, he gives illustrations from the remote past. In
hisdivine poems, he gives biblical references like the Crucification.
“Or snorted we in the seaven sleepers den?”“Get with child a mandrake roote.”“But that Christ on this Crosse, did rise and fall.”Metaphysical poetry is highly concentrated and so is
Donne’s poetry. In “TheGood Morrow”, he says“For love, all love of other sights controules.”“For, not in nothing, nor in thingsExtreme, and scatt’ring bright, can love inhere.”“Hee that
hath all can have no more.”His poetry is full of arguments, persuasion, shock and surprise. Instead of conventional romantic words, he used scientific and mathematical words tointroduce
roughness in his poetry; e.g. he used the words ‘stife twin compasses’,‘cosmographers’, ‘trepidation of the spheres’ etc.His style is highly fantastic, curt and he uses rough words. He
rejects theconventional style which was romantic, soft and diffused.Paradoxical statements are also found in his poems. In “The Indifferent” Donnedescribes constancy in men as vice and
ask them:“Will no other vice content you?”In “The Legacy” the lover becomes his own ‘executor and legacy’. In “Love’sGrowth” the poet’s love seems to have increased in spring, but
now it cannotincrease because it was already infinite, and yet it has increased:“No winter shall abate the sring’s increase.”He deals with the problem of body and soul in “The
Anniversarie” of the individualand the universe in “The Sunne Rising” and of deprivation and actuality in “ANoctrunall”. In his divine poems he talks about the Crucification, ransom, sects
/schism, religion, etc.Donne is a coterie poet. He rejects the Patrarchan tradition of poetry, adopted by
he Elizabethans. The Elizabethan poetry was the product off emotions. Herejected platonic idealism, elaborate description and ornamentation. He wasprecise and concentrated in poetry
while the Elizabethan are copious andplentiful in words.Seventeenth century had four major prerequisites; colloquial in diction, personalin tone, logical in structure and undecorative and
untraditional imagination, whichwere also present in Donne.To conclude, he is more a seventeenth century poet than a metaphysical poet.There are some features in his poetry which
differentiate him e.g. he is amonarch of with and more colloquial than any other seventeenth century poet. If other seventeenth century poet bring together emotions and intellect, he
definesemotional experience with intellectual parallels etc. Still he writes in the traditionof the seventeenth century poets.Paradise Lost: A Classical EpicHomer and Virgil were the two
great masters of the Classical epic. Homer’s Iliadand Virgil’s Aeneid have invariably served as models for all writers of theclassical epic. Milton was a great classical scholar and he sought
to write anepic. He dreamt of immortality and he aspired to be one with Homer and Virgil asthe author of a classical epic. Milton turned his great classical and Biblicallearning to a poem
to “assert eternal providence, and justify the ways of God tomen”.“I may assert Eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to men.”Milton achieved eminent success in making
Paradise Lost as classical epic. Inspite of certain drawbacks and defects, Milton’s epic is entitled to take its rightfulplace among half a dozen classical epics in the world. The first
essential featureof the epic is its theme. The theme of an epic must have a national importance or significance; that is, the epic must be a true and faithful mirror of the life and of
anation. Homer represented the national life, thought and culture of ht Greeks inthe Iliad, and Virgil gave expression to the hopes and aspirations of the Romansin the Aeneid. The Fall of
Man is the theme of the epic.“Of Man’s first disobedience, and the fruitOf that forbidden tree, whose mortal tasteBrought death into the world, and all our woe,”The epic action has
three qualifications. First, it should be one action, secondly, itshould be an entire action, and thirdly, it should be a great action. In short, theaction of an epic should be one, entire and
great. All these three qualities of epicaction are followed by Milton.
The action of Paradise Lost is one and there is a unity of action. The centralaction is the Fall of Man, and everything in the epic as, the battle of angels, thecreation of the world, is
subordinated to this central action. There are digressionsat the beginning of the third and seventh books, but they do not affect the unityand central action of the poem. The whole
action of Paradise Lost is single andcompact. In the second place, its action is entire which means that it has abeginning, middle and an end. The action in Paradise Lost is contrived in
hell,executed upon earth, and punished by heaven. In the third place the action oughtto be great, by greatness of the action, Aristotle means that it should not only begreat in its nature
but also in its duration. The entire action of Paradise Lost has astamp of grandeur and greatness about it. Milton’s subject is greater thanHomer’s Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid. It does not
determine the fate of one singleperson or nation; but of the whole human race.Milton plunges into the middle of the action. Milton, in imitation of the great poets,opens his Paradise
Lost, with an infernal council plotting the fall of man.The characters of the epic must have dignity and variety. In Paradise Lost, wehave a wide variety of characters marked with
qualities. In Paradise Lost, wehave human as well as superhuman characters. Adams and Eve are humancharacters, whereas God, Christ and Satan are superhuman characters. An epic
must have a hero with great qualities. Identification of the hero isdifferent in Paradise Lost. Adam can be called the hero of the epic. He is not awarrior or a conqueror but a noble
figure. An epic is a serious poem embodying sublime and nobler thoughts. Milton’sParadise Lost is a sublime and noble poem characterized by loftiness of thoughtand sentiment. An epic is
not without a moral. Moral forms an integral and intrinsic part inMilton’s poem. It seeks to “vindicate the ways of God to man, to show thereasonableness of religion and the necessity of
obedience to the Divine Law”.Milton, in conformity with the epic practice, begins Paradise Lost by invoking theMuse to help him in his great task. But since Milton seeks the aid of the
HeavenlyMuse, the Holy spirit,“And chiefly thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer Before all temples the upright heart and pure,Instruct me, for thou know’st:”He requests:“- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - -: what in me is dark
Illumine, what is low raise and support,”In and epic poem the poet narrates very little in his person. The charactersthemselves carry forward the mission of the poet.Lastly the language
of an epic must be sublime and rose above the language of common parlance.“- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - What though the fields be lost? All is not lost” Aristotle observes that a
sublime style can be formed by three methods --- by theuse of metaphors, by making use of the idioms and by lengthening of the phraseby the addition of words. Milton employs all
these three methods to give the air of grandeur to his epic. His similes and metaphors are epical. Latin words arefrequently introduced. The style of Paradise Lost is the truest example
of grandstyle. On one place, Satan says:“The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n”On the other place:“Better to reign in Hell, than serve in
Heaven.”Milton’s Paradise Lost is a successful classical epic. Paradise lost has thus manyexcellences as an epic but the defects in it also not be forgotten. The introductionof allegorical
persons like sin and death, the frequent allusions to heathenmythological fables, the intervention of grotesque incidents, the frequentindulgence in puns and useless display of learning and
the unnecessary use of technical terms as in the description of Pandemonium are some blemishes in thestyle of the poem.One other point must also be noted. An epic is an objective
poem, and personalreflections are out of place in it. But the most sublime parts of Paradise Lostreflect the individuality of the poet. How ever this has added to the interest of thework
as a poem though it is not, strictly speaking, permissible in an epic.
Dryden once remarked:“Donne affects metaphysics not only in his satires but in amorous verses, too,where nature only should reign.”Though Donne was
influenced by the sixteenth and the seventeenth centurypoets, yet he did not tread on the beaten track. His concept of poetry wasunconventional. In his poetry, intellect takes the form,
primarily, of wit by whichheterogeneous ideas are yoked together by violence. The seventeenth centurypoets labeled his poetry as ‘strong line poetry’, mainly, on account of his
conciseexpression and his deliberate toughness. In his life, he was never called ametaphysical poet. After his death, his poetry was re-evaluated and some other important features were
found in it, which won the name of a metaphysical poetfor Donne.Grierson’s defines metaphysical poetry as:“Poetry inspired by a philosophical concept of the universe and the role
assignedto human spirit in the great drama of existence”.This definition is based on the metaphysical poetry of Dante, Goethe and Yeats.So “metaphysical” is applicable to poetry who is
highly philosophical or whichtouches philosophy.Combination of passion and thought characterizes his work. His use of conceit isoften witty and sometimes fantastic. His hyperboles are
outrageous and hisparadoxes astonishing. He mixes fact and fancy in a manner which astounds us.He fills his poems with learned and often obscure illusions besides, some of hispoems are
metaphysical in literal sense, they are philosophical and reflective,and they deal with concerns of the spirit or soul.Conceit is an ingredient which gives a special character to Donne’s
metaphysical
poetry. Some of his conceits are far-fetched, bewildering and intriguing. He weldsdiverse passions into something harmonious.“When thou weep’st, unkindly kinde,My lifes blood doth
decay.”“When a teare falls, that thou falst which it bore,”“Here lies a she-sun and a he-moon there”“All women shall adore us, and some men.”His approach is based on logical reasoning
and arguments. He providesintellectual parallels to his emotional experiences. His modus operandi was “tomove from the contemplation of fact to a deduction from it and, thence, to
aconclusion”. He contemplates fidelity in a woman but, in reality, draws itimpossible of find a faithful woman.“No whereLives a woman true, and faire.”He does not employ emotionally
exciting rhythm. His poetry goes on lower ebb.Even his love poems do not excite emotions in us. Even in a “Song” whileseparating, he is logical that he is not parting for weariness of
his beloved.“But since that IMust dye at last, ’tis best,To use my selfe in jestThus by fain’d deaths to dye;”His speculations and doctrines are beyond common human experience. Hisideas
are beyond the understanding of a layman and are a blend of intellect andemotions making his approach dialectical and scholastic. He asks his beloved in“The Message” to keep his eyes
and heart because they might have learntcertain ills from her, but then, he asks her to give them back so that he may laughat her and see her dying when some other proves as false to
her as she hasproved to the poet.Donne was a self-conscious artist, therefore, had a desire to show off hislearning. In his love poetry, he gives illustrations from the remote past. In
hisdivine poems, he gives biblical references like the Crucification.
“Or snorted we in the seaven sleepers den?”“Get with child a mandrake roote.”“But that Christ on this Crosse, did rise and fall.”Metaphysical poetry is highly concentrated and so is
Donne’s poetry. In “TheGood Morrow”, he says“For love, all love of other sights controules.”“For, not in nothing, nor in thingsExtreme, and scatt’ring bright, can love inhere.”“Hee that
hath all can have no more.”His poetry is full of arguments, persuasion, shock and surprise. Instead of conventional romantic words, he used scientific and mathematical words tointroduce
roughness in his poetry; e.g. he used the words ‘stife twin compasses’,‘cosmographers’, ‘trepidation of the spheres’ etc.His style is highly fantastic, curt and he uses rough words. He
rejects theconventional style which was romantic, soft and diffused.Paradoxical statements are also found in his poems. In “The Indifferent” Donnedescribes constancy in men as vice and
ask them:“Will no other vice content you?”In “The Legacy” the lover becomes his own ‘executor and legacy’. In “Love’sGrowth” the poet’s love seems to have increased in spring, but
now it cannotincrease because it was already infinite, and yet it has increased:“No winter shall abate the sring’s increase.”He deals with the problem of body and soul in “The
Anniversarie” of the individualand the universe in “The Sunne Rising” and of deprivation and actuality in “ANoctrunall”. In his divine poems he talks about the Crucification, ransom, sects
/schism, religion, etc.Donne is a coterie poet. He rejects the Patrarchan tradition of poetry, adopted by
he Elizabethans. The Elizabethan poetry was the product off emotions. Herejected platonic idealism, elaborate description and ornamentation. He wasprecise and concentrated in poetry
while the Elizabethan are copious andplentiful in words.Seventeenth century had four major prerequisites; colloquial in diction, personalin tone, logical in structure and undecorative and
untraditional imagination, whichwere also present in Donne.To conclude, he is more a seventeenth century poet than a metaphysical poet.There are some features in his poetry which
differentiate him e.g. he is amonarch of with and more colloquial than any other seventeenth century poet. If other seventeenth century poet bring together emotions and intellect, he
definesemotional experience with intellectual parallels etc. Still he writes in the traditionof the seventeenth century poets.Paradise Lost: A Classical EpicHomer and Virgil were the two
great masters of the Classical epic. Homer’s Iliadand Virgil’s Aeneid have invariably served as models for all writers of theclassical epic. Milton was a great classical scholar and he sought
to write anepic. He dreamt of immortality and he aspired to be one with Homer and Virgil asthe author of a classical epic. Milton turned his great classical and Biblicallearning to a poem
to “assert eternal providence, and justify the ways of God tomen”.“I may assert Eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to men.”Milton achieved eminent success in making
Paradise Lost as classical epic. Inspite of certain drawbacks and defects, Milton’s epic is entitled to take its rightfulplace among half a dozen classical epics in the world. The first
essential featureof the epic is its theme. The theme of an epic must have a national importance or significance; that is, the epic must be a true and faithful mirror of the life and of
anation. Homer represented the national life, thought and culture of ht Greeks inthe Iliad, and Virgil gave expression to the hopes and aspirations of the Romansin the Aeneid. The Fall of
Man is the theme of the epic.“Of Man’s first disobedience, and the fruitOf that forbidden tree, whose mortal tasteBrought death into the world, and all our woe,”The epic action has
three qualifications. First, it should be one action, secondly, itshould be an entire action, and thirdly, it should be a great action. In short, theaction of an epic should be one, entire and
great. All these three qualities of epicaction are followed by Milton.
The action of Paradise Lost is one and there is a unity of action. The centralaction is the Fall of Man, and everything in the epic as, the battle of angels, thecreation of the world, is
subordinated to this central action. There are digressionsat the beginning of the third and seventh books, but they do not affect the unityand central action of the poem. The whole
action of Paradise Lost is single andcompact. In the second place, its action is entire which means that it has abeginning, middle and an end. The action in Paradise Lost is contrived in
hell,executed upon earth, and punished by heaven. In the third place the action oughtto be great, by greatness of the action, Aristotle means that it should not only begreat in its nature
but also in its duration. The entire action of Paradise Lost has astamp of grandeur and greatness about it. Milton’s subject is greater thanHomer’s Iliad and Virgil’s Aeneid. It does not
determine the fate of one singleperson or nation; but of the whole human race.Milton plunges into the middle of the action. Milton, in imitation of the great poets,opens his Paradise
Lost, with an infernal council plotting the fall of man.The characters of the epic must have dignity and variety. In Paradise Lost, wehave a wide variety of characters marked with
qualities. In Paradise Lost, wehave human as well as superhuman characters. Adams and Eve are humancharacters, whereas God, Christ and Satan are superhuman characters. An epic
must have a hero with great qualities. Identification of the hero isdifferent in Paradise Lost. Adam can be called the hero of the epic. He is not awarrior or a conqueror but a noble
figure. An epic is a serious poem embodying sublime and nobler thoughts. Milton’sParadise Lost is a sublime and noble poem characterized by loftiness of thoughtand sentiment. An epic is
not without a moral. Moral forms an integral and intrinsic part inMilton’s poem. It seeks to “vindicate the ways of God to man, to show thereasonableness of religion and the necessity of
obedience to the Divine Law”.Milton, in conformity with the epic practice, begins Paradise Lost by invoking theMuse to help him in his great task. But since Milton seeks the aid of the
HeavenlyMuse, the Holy spirit,“And chiefly thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer Before all temples the upright heart and pure,Instruct me, for thou know’st:”He requests:“- - - - - - - - - - - - - -
- - - - - - - -: what in me is dark
Illumine, what is low raise and support,”In and epic poem the poet narrates very little in his person. The charactersthemselves carry forward the mission of the poet.Lastly the language
of an epic must be sublime and rose above the language of common parlance.“- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - What though the fields be lost? All is not lost” Aristotle observes that a
sublime style can be formed by three methods --- by theuse of metaphors, by making use of the idioms and by lengthening of the phraseby the addition of words. Milton employs all
these three methods to give the air of grandeur to his epic. His similes and metaphors are epical. Latin words arefrequently introduced. The style of Paradise Lost is the truest example
of grandstyle. On one place, Satan says:“The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heav’n”On the other place:“Better to reign in Hell, than serve in
Heaven.”Milton’s Paradise Lost is a successful classical epic. Paradise lost has thus manyexcellences as an epic but the defects in it also not be forgotten. The introductionof allegorical
persons like sin and death, the frequent allusions to heathenmythological fables, the intervention of grotesque incidents, the frequentindulgence in puns and useless display of learning and
the unnecessary use of technical terms as in the description of Pandemonium are some blemishes in thestyle of the poem.One other point must also be noted. An epic is an objective
poem, and personalreflections are out of place in it. But the most sublime parts of Paradise Lostreflect the individuality of the poet. How ever this has added to the interest of thework
as a poem though it is not, strictly speaking, permissible in an epic.