Wednesday, we discussed Ben Jonson and John Donne, focusing on their lives and work. We also discussed metaphysical poetry. According to www.poets.org, metaphysical poetry is a “poetic style in which philosophical and spiritual subjects were approached with reason and often concluded in paradox. This group of writers established meditation—based on the union of thought and feeling sought after in Jesuit Ignatian meditation—as a poetic mode."
Debora Schwarz, faculty member at California State Polytechnic University, identified these characteristics in metaphysical poetry:
- a tendency to look inward, reflecting on love and religion
- a penchant for imagery that is novel, "unpoetical" and sometimes shocking, drawn from the commonplace (actual life) or the remote (erudite sources), including the extended metaphor of the “metaphysical conceit.”
- simple diction (compared to Elizabethan poetry) which echoes the cadences (or rhythms) of everyday speech
- an argumentative structure (with the poet's lover; with God; with oneself)
- often rugged meter, not "sweet" or smooth like Elizabethan verse. This ruggedness goes naturally with the metaphysical poets' attitude and purpose: a belief in the perplexity of life, a spirit of revolt.
She also indicated the best metaphysical poetry is honest, unconventional, and reveals the poet's sense of the complexities and contradictions of life. It is intellectual, analytical, psychological, and bold; frequently it is absorbed in thoughts of death, physical love, and religious devotion.
(Full PowerPoint available upon request.)
For the quiz Thursday, know a bit about the lives of Jonson and Donne, know what metaphysical poetry is (including a conceit), and be able to identify elements in Donne's poems that align with the definition above.
In-class work:
In the groups noted below, prepare a mini-presentation for Friday about your assigned poem. Be prepared to read the poem aloud, explain its key elements (in terms of content and form), and raise two questions for discussion.
1) Kaitlyn, AJ, Frank, Jordan - "Song" (806-807)
2) Mikenna, Melanie, Becca, Ashley - "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning" (811-812)
3) Jacqui, Melissa, Brenda, Jason, Sean - "The Flea" (810)
4) Inessa, Jess, Lydia, Janna - from Holy Sonnets (6), pg. 815
5) Claudia, Surea, Kathleen (Xiaoxi), Hillery from Holy Sonnets (10), pg. 815
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