Metaphysical Poetry

Metaphysical poetry is a current in English lyric of the seventeenth century, characterized by intellectual tension, the combination of feeling and philosophical thought, the ingenious 'conceit' (an unexpected, paradoxical metaphor that brings together distant notions), a dramatic intonation, and a reflective attitude toward love, death, faith, and God. The Metaphysicals avoided smooth melodiousness for the sake of a tense, 'rough' verse that imitates the living work of thought. Its leading representative is John Donne, together with George Herbert and Andrew Marvell. The term 'metaphysical poets' was later fixed by the critic Samuel Johnson. The aesthetics of Metaphysical poetry is consonant with the Baroque in its penchant for complex allegory and intellectual play; kindred features — the joining of emblematics, learning, and spiritual tension — also mark Ukrainian Baroque poetry, in particular the verses of Ivan Velychkovsky and the sacred lyric of Hryhorii Skovoroda.