metaphysical poetry
Cerebral seventeenth-century verse
Metaphysical poetry is a style of 17th-century English verse marked by intellectual complexity, elaborate conceits, and philosophical argument.
John Donne is its central figure.
The poems often explore love, death, and spirituality through unexpected comparisons—a flea as marriage bed, a compass as separated lovers.
The term was coined dismissively but now signals admiration for wit and ingenuity.
- John DonneJacobean metaphysical poet-preacher
- conceitExaggerated self-admiration
- extended metaphorFigurative comparison throughout text
- yokingBinding animals for labor
- witClever, inventive humor
paradox · mortality · love · love poem · divine love · spirituality · compass · theology · sonnet · Renaissance literature · eternity · Protestant Reformation · soul · Counter-Reformation · existentialism · mysticism · scientific revolution · enjambment
- humanitiesphilosophy, history, literature, philosophy class, novels
- poetrypoem, poems, verse, verses, rhyme
- poetry termsrhyme, verse, rhythm, meter, beat
- Early Modern LiteratureShakespeare, Milton, Cervantes, Don Quixote, Paradise Lost
- poetry typeshaiku, sonnet, limerick, ballad, ode
- Renaissance LiteratureShakespeare, Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, The Prince, Don Quixote
metaphysical poetryfolk ballads
Narrative songs from oral tradition
light verse · doggerel · nursery rhymes · confessional poetry
metaphysical poetryRomantic poetry
Feeling-centered literary movement
nature poetry · rural simplicity · confessional poetry · imagism · folk poetry