Metaphysical Poetry

1. ShairaTayaba Charlie Elamparo Robin Cobarrubia Paulo de Mesa Period 1 Metaphysical Poetry

2. Metaphysical Poetry Metaphysical poetry, a term first coined by Samuel Johnson, it began its roots in 17th-century England. This movement or type of poetry is quite witty, ingenious, and highly philosophical. It’s topics included love, war, religion and more. It was a more sudden change in style moving away from 16th century dramatic prose and figurative language.

3. What is Metaphysical Poetry.. • First we should pay our attention the word 'Metaphysical'. • It is made of 2 words 'meta' - beyond the 'physical‘(object) – meaning beyond the physical representation of an object. For example to attain a higher understanding of an even higher concept. • Now, the combine sense in association with poetry is, Metaphysical poetry in a particular sense is beyond our physical world. It usually has means such as heavenly, spiritually , and Intellectual thought.

4. During the times.. • 17th‐century English poets whose work is notable for its ingenious use of intellectual and theological concepts in surprising metaphors, strange paradoxes, and far‐fetched imagery. • Prominent Poets of the time included: • Thomas Carew • Robert Southwell • Abraham Cowley • John Suckling • John Donne

5. Metaphysical Poetry Poetic Techniques: Themes: • Wit • Irony • Paradox • Conceits • Rhymes • Deep philosophical issues • Relationships w/ people and God • Passage of time • Death • Unfolding of life’s truths

6. Thomas Carew (1595 – 1640) • Biography • Son of a well-connected official • Educated at Merton College, Oxford • Worked as a diplomatic secretary in Italy, Holland, and France • His talent and skill earned him a place at court and served at Charles I’s table • Poems were not published until AFTER his death in 1640 • Only his friends such as John Donne and Ben Jonson got hand-written copies of his work • Polished and reset the fanciful notion of love for aristocratic audience • Notable Works: • A Cruel Mistress • A Divine Mistress • A Rapture • Another

7. The Spring • NOW that the winter's gone, the earth hath lost Her snow-white robes ; and now no more the frost Candies the grass, or casts an icy cream Upon the silver lake or crystal stream : But the warm sun thaws the benumbed earth, And makes it tender ; gives a sacred birth To the dead swallow ; wakes in hollow tree The drowsy cuckoo and the humble-bee. Now do a choir of chirping minstrels bring, In triumph to the world, the youthful spring : The valleys, hills, and woods in rich array Welcome the coming of the long'd-for May. Now all things smile : only my love doth lower, Nor hath the scalding noon-day sun the power To melt that marble ice, which still doth hold Her heart congeal'd, and makes her pity cold. The ox, which lately did for shelter fly Into the stall, doth now securely lie In open fields ; and love no more is made By the fire-side, but in the cooler shade Amyntas now doth with his Chloris sleep Under a sycamore, and all things keep     Time with the season : only she doth carry     June in her eyes, in her heart January. 

8. Analysis of Figurative Language: • Alliteration • Chiasmus • Metaphor • Personification • Paradox • Pun • Wit • Irony

9. Robert Southwell (1561-1595) Bio: • Robert Southwell • English Jesuit/poet • A Jesuit is a member of a religious group, the Society of Jesus • Arrested for treason • Assassinate Queen Elizabeth (I) • Worked with 2 other people • Anthony Babington’s Plot • Most of Southwell’s work was written in prison • Most are religion based • February 10, 1595 • Tried before the King’s Bench (Highest court of law) • Hanged the next day

10. Notable works by Sir Southwell: • Epistle of Comfort • A Short Rule of Good Life • Triumphs Over Death • Mary Magdalen’s Tears

11. “New Heaven, New War” “This little babe so few days old, Is come to rifle Satan’s fold; All hell doth at His presence quake, Though He Himself for cold do shake, For in this weak unarmed wise The gates of hell He will surprise”

12. Analysis of Figurative Language: • Analysis: • Metaphor – “This little babe so few days old, Is come to rifle Satan’s fold” • Compares a “little babe” to a new Jesuit. • Fighting off the evil/”Satan” • Imagery – “Satan”; “He”; “gates of hell” • Using Biblical figures • “He” refers to God • Preparing for a war • Feminine rhyme • “wise” and “surprise” • Attacking someone first (“Hell”, in this case) would be a smart choice • Theme – Overall • Fight against evil • Heaven vs. Hell • This fits in to the metaphysical era due to its connection to a higher understanding of religion during the times in which Southwell lived in.

13. Abraham Cowley (1618-1667) Bio: Abraham Cowley Son of a wealthy London stationer. Published his first volume of verse “Poetical Blossoms” when he was 15 years old. Parliamentary party deprived him of fellowship He then left Cambridge to join King Charles in Oxford and became Queen Henrietta Maria's secretary. He was imprisoned after he had returned to England. Studied in medical after released and began writing and studying botany.

14. Notable Works: • Against Fruition • The Wish • Anacreontics: Drinking • Ode. of Wit

15. COUNSEL 1667 • AH! what advice can I receive!No, satisfy me first;For who would physick-potions giveTo one that dies with thirst?A little puff of breath, we find,Small fires can quench and kill;But, when they're great, the adverse windDoes make them greater still.Now whilst you speak, it moves me much,But straight I'm just the same;Alas! th' effect must needs be suchOf cutting through a flame.

16. Analysis of Figurative Language: Analysis: Metaphor: desire for help = thirst; small fire = small advice Rhyme - first/thirst; kill/still; same/flame Rhetorical question - "For who would physick-potions give / To one that dies with thirst?" Personification - of the wind and the fire.  Hyperbole- The last two lines can be interpreted as needing a advice so good that it can cut through flame. Theme- The theme is that advice can help us lean towards a decision but if we are flooded with it, then we are unable to make a choice and become indecisive.

17. John Suckling (1609-1642) • Mother died when he was 4 years old Father was appointed Comptroller of James I's household in 1622 • Went to Trinity College in Cambridge but never got a degree • Knighted in September 1630 for serving in the Thirty Years' War • Died in 1630 by an unknown cause Prominent works • Why so Pale and Wan, Fond Lover • Ballad Upon a Wedding • Against Absence • The Invocation

18. There Never Yet Was Woman Made • There Never Yet Was Woman Made by Sir John SucklingITHERE never yet was woman made,                Nor shall, but to be curst ;And O, that I, fond I, should first,                Of any lover,This truth at my own charge to other fools discover !2You, that have promis’d to yourselves                Propriety in love,Know women’s hearts like straw do move,                And what we callTheir sympathy, is but love to jet in general.3All mankind are alike to them ;                And, though we iron findThat never with a loadstone join’d,’Tis not the iron’s fault,It is because near the loadstone it was never brought.4If where a gentle bee hath fall’n,                And laboured to his power,A new succeeds not to that flower,                But passes by,’Tis to be thought, the gallant elsewhere loads his thigh.5For still the flowers ready stand :                One buzzes round about,One lights, one tastes, gets in, gets out ;                All all ways use them,Till all their sweets are gone, and all again refuse them.

19. Analysis of Figurative Language: • Rhyme Scheme – • Each stanza follow A B B C C • Metaphors – • bees, flowers, loadstone, iron • Tone – • Light-hearted (almost playful) • Nature-based diction • Straw, flower, bee

20. John Donne (1572-1631) • John Donne, one of the most famous Metaphysical Poets. He was also an English poet, satirist, lawyer, and priest. • His personal relationship with spirituality is at the center of most of his work, and the psychological analysis and sexual realism of his work marked a exceptional separation from traditional dramatic styles of the 16th century. • In 1601 Donne secretly married Anne Moore with whom he had 12 children • He died on 31 March 1631, accomplishing many a great poems and literary works during his time.

21. Notable Works • The Canonization • The Flea • The Sun Rising • Hymn to God, my god, in my sickness.

22. The Broken HeartBy John Donne • 1He is stark mad, whoever says,    That he hath been in love an hour,Yet not that love so soon decays,    But that it can ten in less space devour ;Who will believe me, if I swearThat I have had the plague a year?    Who would not laugh at me, if I should say    I saw a flash of powder burn a day? • 2Ah, what a trifle is a heart,    If once into love's hands it come !All other griefs allow a part    To other griefs, and ask themselves but some ;They come to us, but us love draws ;He swallows us and never chaws ;    By him, as by chain'd shot, whole ranks do die ;    He is the tyrant pike, our hearts the fry. • 3If 'twere not so, what did become    Of my heart when I first saw thee?I brought a heart into the room,    But from the room I carried none with me.If it had gone to thee, I knowMine would have taught thine heart to show    More pity unto me ; but Love, alas !    At one first blow did shiver it as glass. • 4Yet nothing can to nothing fall,    Nor any place be empty quite ;Therefore I think my breast hath all    Those pieces still, though they be not unite ;And now, as broken glasses showA hundred lesser faces, so    My rags of heart can like, wish, and adore,    But after one such love, can love no more.

23. Analysis of Figurative Language: • In his poem “The Broken Heart”, Donne takes a relatively simple idea - that love destroys the heart, and portrays it into a series of elaborate metaphors and imagery. • In each stanza, Donne personifies love in different angles: • Comparing to the plague. Metaphorically, it means that it applies to everyone and that it grows until inevitably consuming the host. • Portrays love as a monster that destroys human beings. • Uses his own personal experience to depict when a love personally destroyed his heart. He does this to offer his opinion where the instant he saw his beloved, love shattered his heart like glass. • He portrays the heart as a mirror, after heartbreak the heart remains intact, however somewhat like the shattered remains of a broken mirror, able to reflect only emotions such as warmth and affection, but no longer love.

24. Continued Analysis.. • Each stanza follows a rhyme scheme of ABABCCDD. • This poem is an excellent example of Donne’s style during the metaphysical movement, transforming a relatively simple idea (love destroys the hearts that feel it) into a unique, elaborate poem full of startling images and implications. • The first stanza is metaphorical and explanatory, where it states that love destroys the hearts that feel it and Donne compares love to a plague. • Truly an example of a metaphysical poem, for where do you find a poet who can easily compare love to death by a violent disease. Donne uses this basic idea, however irrelevant they may seem, in order to illustrate the destructive nature of love and the dangers of falling in love, for it may “swallow us” all.

25. AP Style Questions • 1. In literature, there are many references to nature and the natural world that go beyond the literal meaning of the object. Choose a work with literary merit and write an essay in which you describe how the comparison to nature enhances the work and its meaning. • 2. Compare two works of literary merit that both deal with God and his effect on the natural world. One work must be from before the 1700s and the other must be after the 1700s. Be sure to discuss the feelings of the people of the time and how it influences the author. • 3. (In reference to the poem There Never Yet Was Woman Made) The following poem is by the metaphysical poet Sir John Suckling. Read the poem carefully. Then write a well-developed essay in which you analyze how the poet conveys his feelings towards women of the time through the use of literary devices such as metaphors and diction.

26. Sources • http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/thomas-carewhttp://thereaderonline.co.uk/2009/03/16/featured-poem-the-spring-by-thomas-carew/http://www.cummingsstudyguides.net/Guides5/Spring.html • http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/southbio.htm • http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14081a.htm • http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/eliza.htm • http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/donne/broken.htm

27. Interactive Lesson • The idea of the metaphysical movement can be simplified to the time when people separated from common sense and saw a bigger picture with life’s concepts. • The idea that perception, and what’s accepted as truth, must be only surmised to the five human senses. But agreement on this idea denies the existence of any spiritual concept, and denies someone access to their higher potential. • Does it seem crazy to say that there is something beyond what we can sense with our physical bodies? • Seeing the BIG PICTURE will help you see everything that could possibly be involved in what you’re looking at. • By seeing something much more of a whole rather than a single unit, one can achieve a higher understanding.

28. WATER

29. Iphone

30. Occupy Wall Street

31. Brain Function Quiz Quiz questions 1.What do metaphysical poems usually focus on in terms of themes? • Funny Current Events • Political Affairs • Educational System • Deep Philosophical Issues 2.What was the theme of the poem “Counsel” ? • That advice can both be helpful but sometimes it may be bad • That the release of the flood will corrupt philosophical views • That with great power, comes great responsibility • Doing nothing will result in nothing 3. In basic simplicity, Metaphysical poets sought to see what? • The big picture • Immortals on 11/11/11 • Freedom • Death and sadness

32. Quiz part II 4.When was Thomas Carew's works published? • 1994 • 2012 • 1565-1640 • 1337 5.Who coined the term Metaphysical poetry? • Samuel Johnson • John Shepard • Clark Kent • Hal Jordan

33. Le Quiz continued.. 6.Which literary devices were mostly used during the time? • Tone • Simile and metaphor. • Personification • Diction 7.In the poem, “The Broken Heart” What did John Donne compare the heart to? • A Halo • A Covenant • A Flood • A Mirror