1. The Jacobean Era
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2. Historical Context
Death of Elizabeth I, succeeded by James Stuart in 1603
Deep religious and political unrest in England
English Puritans => America
Political ferment in the House of Commons
Philosophical and intellectual changes
Modern astronomy- Copernicus and Galileo
Undermining of faith and older world view (divinely ordered universe, Great Chain of Being)

3. Metaphysical Poetry

4. Origins
Definition of “metaphysical”: highly abstract, subtle, or abstruse
The term "metaphysical," as applied to the group of seventeenth-century English poets, was used by Augustan poets John Dryden and Samuel Johnson to reprove those poets for their "unnaturalness.”
Intellectual and theological concepts

5. Definitions
Metaphysical conceit- an unusual and intellectual metaphor that makes a comparison between two startlingly different things. Extended simile.
Paradox- an apparent contradiction which turns out on close inspection to yield a valuable perception or reveal a kind of truth

6. Characteristics
Tendency toward psychological analysis of the emotions of love and religion
Characterized as intellectual, analytical, psychological, disillusioning, bold
Desired to express honestly, if unconventionally, the poet’s sense of the complexities and contradictions of life
Verbal wit and excess
Extended, elaborate, highly intellectual imagery

7. From “Meditation 17”
“No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine own were. Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
John Donne

8. Cavalier Poetry

9. Definitions of “cavalier”
n.- A gallant or chivalrous man, especially one serving as escort to a woman of high social position; a gentleman.
adj. - Carefree and nonchalant; jaunty.
17th century Cavalier poets were soldiers and courtiers first, authors only incidentally.
Ideal of the Renaissance man

10. Characteristics Lighthearted in tone, secular in subject matter
Graceful, melodious, polished in manner
Licentious
Witty
Cynical
Courtly themes of love, war, chivalry, loyalty
Response to death: “carpe diem”

11. To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Tomorrow will be dying.
Times still succeed the former.
The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
Then be not coy, but use your time,
The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And while ye may, go marry;
And nearer he's to setting.
For having lost but once your prime,
You may forever tarry.
-Robert Herrick