Without a doubt, metaphysical poetry is one of the most
interesting branches that involve fierce stuffing of thoughts not giving the
reader a moment to pause and think about. Considering the thickness of content,
the verses present enough space for satires, romance and pastorals. The essence
of the metaphysical wit tends to be philosophical, theological and treats life
as a stage for drama.
Characteristics of
Metaphysical Poetry
Concentration
A metaphysical poem is essentially a verse of shorter length
and adopts a form consisting of a line of eight syllables. The stanzas never bring
a feather touch to the reader, thereby making the whole reading process intense
and demanding. Unlike Spenser and poets of simple authoring, Metaphysical writing
connects every aspect of life philosophically and reflects a sense of logic in
tight compression. Until now, such poems cannot be understood with ease.
Metaphysical conceit
Conceit in Metaphysical poetry is largely used to make a
comparison of cleverness and justice. This element of conceit floods
Elizabethan poetry. Unlike the latter, Metaphysical verses use clever
comparisons to justify a fact and never is Conceit made predominant. Conceit is
used to convince, argue and reflect a statement which finally reveals a
fondness in hatred, i.e. Positivity in negativity. We can also consider this a
paradox or an extended epigram that finally brings a definite statement of
conclusion such that no one denies.
Learnedness
Most of the metaphysical poems are loaded with scholastic
entities making it a little difficult to journey a smoother reading. As always,
the verses are stuffed with witty, novel and aspiring and in a notion of presenting
advanced educative and technical aspects prudently. This learnedness never was
a drawback as these poets ransacked everything they wanted to write about. Anything
they wrote was an absolute, brand new form of what had been seen in various
works of previous eras.
Cynicism
The aspect of cynicism always surged through Elizabethan
poetry. The angle of viewing cynicism in such poems usually made the heroine
the pinnacle of perfection and uniqueness; making herself the master of the
hero. All the metaphysical poets were against this fact and transformed love to
an equally sweet two way romance yet less physical by theme.
Mechanism of
Sensibility
The charge of sensibility is indeed a positive feature. Frequently,
we see petrarchan poets incorporating a fair amount of irregular, disconnected
events in the poems. Cutting entirely down on this feature, metaphysical poets
harmonized thoughts, reasoning, feeling and images. Being successful at merging
diverse fields, unlike elements and finally juxtaposing them is an excellent advantage.
To estimate the level of obscurity in the metaphysical
poetry is not so easy. But with a statement that explains it all, the level
could just fall flat. Everyone agrees that the verses are closely packed with
meaning making it a challenging job to fathom. However, most readers value this
as a masterpiece and wonder at it while they understand. The clever placement of
unlike imagery, thought and emotions, contrasting pair of statements and thereby
unifying altogether makes it a WOW factor.
The abrupt openings of the metaphysical poems are certainly
an attraction which contrasts it from the usual start of the petrarchan and Elizabethan
plays. Such starts create an interest and await the reader for a beautiful
touch of the theme.
Metrical Harshness is one of the most celebrated features of
these poems with always a conversational verse forming a part of the piece.
This part is however stuffed and does not tend to any smooth, musical or rhythmic
flow. The diction and metrical effect reveals forever a subtle yet surprising
feeling of thoughts and emotions.
With no specific
negative points except for the concentration of thought, metaphysical poetry
has proved to be an all rounder still challenging every reader at first sight.
