Metaphysical poets

The metaphysical poets is a term applied to some poets of the 17th century whose work is characterised by wit, a love of conceits, complex argument, and unexpected use of similes and arguably extravagant comparisons. Among the poets were John Donne, George Herbert, Richard Crashaw, Henry Vaughan, Andrew Marvell and Thomas Traherne. They were not a movement as such, though one can trace a pattern of influence between some of them, particularly between Herbert and Vaughan. Some of their poems start from something very concrete - for example sunrise or a flower - and move on to an exploration of religious or philosophical themes or of the nature of love and relationships.

The term "metaphysical" to describe the poets dates back to John Dryden, who disliked this poetic style, and said disparagingly of Donne, "He affects the Metaphysics... in his amorous verses, where nature only should reign; and perplexes the minds of the fair sex with nice speculations of philosophy". Samuel Johnson picked up the term metaphysics in his Life of Cowley, where he wrote that "about the beginning of the seventeenth century appeared a race of writers that may be termed the metaphysical poets".

At the end of the seventeenth century metaphysical poetry generally fell out of favour (though some of George Herbert's more straightforward poems continued to be admired): it did not accord with the poetic conventions approved by such writer as Dryden and Alexander Pope. The twentieth century saw a big revival of interest in the metaphysicals.

Two major anthologies of the metaphysical poets are:

• Metaphysical Lyrics & Poems of the Seventeenth Century, Donne to Butler, selected and edited by Herbert Greirson, Clarendon Press, 1921
• The Metaphysical Poets, introduced and edited by Helen Gardner, Penguin Books 1957