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The Metaphysical Poets. Everything you wanted to know…. Social Context:. The metaphysical poets were British lyric poets of the 17 th century. Poetry represented the changing times, the new sciences, and the newfound debauchery of the 17 th century. Metaphysics:. According to Wikipedia,
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The Metaphysical Poets Everything you wanted to know…
Social Context: • The metaphysical poets were British lyric poets of the 17th century. • Poetry represented the changing times, the new sciences, and the newfound debauchery of the 17th century.
Metaphysics: • According to Wikipedia, • “Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental nature ofbeing and the world. Traditionally, metaphysics attempts to answer two basic questions in the broadest possible terms:"What is there?" and "What is it like?”
Characteristics of the Era’s Poetry • Strong wit • Far-fetched comparisons (simile/metaphor) • Search for “beyond the mirror”- there is perfection in eternal beauty • Often a religious edge
Writers of the Era • John Donne • Andrew Marvell • Anne Bradstreet
Shakespeare • Although more often categorized within the Elizabethan period, he was a contemporary of the Metaphysical poets and his writing reflected the characteristics of the age. • Check out the sweet use of comparisons.
Sonnet • 3 quatrains • Iambic pentameter • Rhyming couplet in the end
Let’s read one together: • Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? • Thou art more lovely and more temperate. • Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, • And summer's lease hath all too short a date. • Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, • And often is his gold complexion dimm'd; • And every fair from fair some time declines, • By chance, or nature's changing course, untrimm'd; • But thy eternal summer shall not fade • Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st; • Nor shall Death brag thou wand'rest in his shade, • When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st: • So long as men can breathe or eyes can see, • So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.