Introduction Chapter One
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INTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION If Eliot has been tne Messiah of the recent Metaphysical cultism, Coleridge was its John Baptist, carrying out the merits of the metaphysicals, preparing the way for the present revival. (Duncan, 1959: 33) The twentieth century has displayed a distinct taste for the seventeenth century metaphysical literature, thought tensions and preblems. The affinity has been most clearly revealed in the i4etaphysical revival - revival of interest in a style found in its most distinguished and distinguishable fonii in the poetry of John Donne, Marvell, Vaughan, etc. The metaphysical revival began almost imperceptibly in the earlier nineteenth century, increased in vigour and importance and flourished in the twentieth century. Dougnlas Bush (1945: 135) has called the Metaphysical revival "the main single factor in effecting the modem revolution in taste". The revival shows no sharp breaks, but an abandance of fresh interpretation. In addition to its essential continuii^, the movement always had life and interest, because it was always changing. New generations of poets transmuted metaphysical tecnniques into a genuine modem poetic idiom. For the poets and critics, the new interpretation has been most rewarding. The most representative metaphysical poets were John Donne, Edward Herbert, George Herbert, John Cleveland, Andrew Marvell and Abraham Cowley. Richard Crashaw was a metaphysical poet but he was a special case. In the work of Henry Vaughan there are some important metaphysical elements. It is necessary to indicate the precise nature of the term 'Metaphysical*. Men of the sixteenth century desired a change in poetry - poetry more sparkling, less emotional and more intellectual, less sweet and more piquant. Some others wanted obscurity which was shown by the satirists. These tastes are gratified and there came a transformation by what is called 'Metaphysical'.'But the seventeenth century writers were not aware of the term and did not have any idea that they were 'Metaphysical'. The metaphysical conceit grows up gradually. There is nothing metaphysical about Spenser's comparisons of two contesting i-Lnights to two contesting beasts but there is sometning metaphysical in' /^V , Donne's comparison of a pair of lovers to 'a pair of ^^ compasses'. As the resemblances become more recondite, more intellectual and less emotional tney are m-^ving further in the metaphysical direction. '»Vhere comparisons are to be very recondite the things are compared must be sought for in the fields of experience very remote from one another. 3eing remote - they cannot be re-united without a clash or snock. In ancient, mediaeval and Golden poetry - such clashes as shocks are avoided for decorum. The poets welcomed this necessity. The rule of the decorum exists to avoid clashes or shocks to organized sensibility. It was an easy discovery that an occasional defiance of the rule resulting in s#hocK can give pleasure. Breaches of decorum v/ork in the same way, thougn the shock need not be comic. A more flippant and v^imsical use of the same method can be seen v^ere Ovid describes Olympus in terms of Rome. As Lewis (195A-: 54Jj points out The metaphysicals were making no absolute innovation when tney deliberately produced poetic shocks by coupling v/hat was sacred, august, remote or inhuman with what was profane, humdrum, familiar, and social, so that God is asked to 'batter' a heart, Christ's 'stretched sinews' become fidlestrings, cherubs nave breakfasts. The novelty lay in doing this sort of thing more often and more violently, than previous poets had done. It is this 'discors concordia' that gives raetapiiysical poetry its essential flavour.' These po^-ts were not abolisning or ignoring poetic decorum but exploiting it in the reverse. Decorun was in their bones. "Hetapnysical poetry is tv/ice bom" (ibid: 54l). It uses discoro. "It may be either 'parasitic' (it lives on non-metaphysical pot ^y) or as being of a 'higher logical order' (it jresuooooes o"Cht?r poetry}" (ibid: 542). Let us first exa.nine metaphysical poetry entirely from a sev:;nteonth century joxnz of view and then trace out the revival from its beginning in the nineteenth century to the present. This includes an examination of changing critical attitude towards metaphysical poetry and a study of shifting interpretations of the metaphysical style in the poetry of W B Yeats, r^iiot and others. The seventeenth century metaphysical poets were never self-consiciously allied; neither were tney individuals working independently. Donne was the leavining force in the rise of the style. His poetry abounds in probing analogies and ingenious wit and recent critics have found in Donne, examples of ambiguity and unified sensibility. Following Donne's lead, iidward and George Herbert helped establish the secular and devotional lines in metaphysical poetry. In <this structures and figures £dward Herbert praised the expression of common things ingeniously ana wittily and somewhat out of the ordinary road. :'iarveil, v/hose tone is often closer to that of Lovelace and the Cavalier Piatonists tnan to Donne, absorbed tne metapnysicai style with an easy grace into his own. George Herbert channelled tne metaphysical into a true devotional poetry like Donne: he married a careful logic to a metaphorical vision. Both i:,dward and George Herbert depended for their figures on abstract knowledge and everyday experience. Crashaw's metaphysical style is intertwined witn a continental Carnoiic baroque style. All these poets contributed to the development of the style tcnown as 'Metapnysicai'. Thomas Crew in his poem (M.L.P. i969: pp. 17/-80) 'An Jiiegy upon the death of the Dean of Pauls Dr John Donne' mentioned Donne's revolt against imitation and conventional imagery of 'Gods and Goddesses', his pregnant fancy, his masculine line that bends 'our troublesome language'. Donne had been able to express something new through the handling of the language. An Anglican clergyman .-riles Aiaxsworth found hidden referances and allegories through out Donne's poetry. The poetry of Donne and his followers was related to the philosophical, rhetorical and poetic theories of the Renaissance, which constituted still a force in seventeenth century literature. Logical structure, metaphor and wit are usually regarded as typical of Donne and his follov/ers. During the Renaissance many writers forged new links between rhetoric and logic. Part of the new interest in logic was due to Peter Ramus, who, in his artistic revision of Aristotle, stressed the subordination of other sciences to logic and greatly emphasized the logical process of investigation and disposition. There was a new e.-nphasis upon the so-called figures of thougnt, such as definition, distinction, cause and eiiect which could be dealt with under the heads of logic. Logical disposition, figures of thougn and the metaphysical conceit flourished in the A logic-conscious Ilenaissance climate. Writing familiar to the metaphysical poets could 6 have given t;iem considerable support for their conceits. In fact Aristotle (cf. Welldon, 1886: 2b9) could be regarded as 'the Father of the Conceit'. He stressed the need for appropriateness in figures, but he also emphasized the pleasure given by strangeness, originality and surprise. He approved metaphors derived from well constructed enigmas and explained that it is proper to derive metaphors from objects vmich are closely related to the thing itself. For him it is a mark of sagacity to discern resemblances in things which are widely different, Aristotle was interested in wit as a stylistic device that could enliven and make more effective the matter in hand and was aware of its close relationship to an underlying logic. The ideal was the continual flash o±" novelty from surprising intellectual relationship. Man ^•ras connected not only with stars, but also with the minerals, vegetable and animal realims. There were seven spheres, seven ages of man, seven days, seven sins, and seven notes in the scale. Renaissance thinkers were particularly eager to bring order into complexity by finding connexions not onJ v betv/een macrocosm and microsasm, but also between all created things. The metaphysical ijonceit was apparently a product of the Renaissance tendency to discover significant analogies almost everywnere. Carew Ln his iilegie ... recognised Donne's sovereignty of ti'i«L.?« 1921: 177) 'the Universal monarcny of Wit' (Carew, ibid: 180), and during the early seventeenth century, the metaphysicals were praised for their wit. The interest in wit was derived mainly from the Classical, mediaeval and early Renaissance rhetorical theory. Though Donne and his contemporaries did not explicitly refer to a distinctive relation of thought and feeling, they did sometimes think in terms some-v^at similar to those employed by modem critics, such as Douglas Bush (1945: 135) who says that the re-discovery of Donne is - "the main single factor in effecting the modem revolution in taste". Donne and others emphasised the close relationsnip between body, mind and soul. Marvell's 'The Dialogue between the Soul and Body' is unique and a great poetic achievement. The dialogue form was not the invention of Marvell. In Mediaeval Latin poetry too tnere are many examples. The form was popular in the seventeenth century. In his 'Dialogue between the Resolved Soul and Created Pleasure', the Soul brushes aside all temptations with the unwavering assurance. But in this poem, 'Dialogue between the Soul and Body', Marvell examines both sides of the questioi- reasonably. This Dialogue is based on important philosophical concepts. In this system of thought - developed by Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics and Christ - there is a firm belief in fundamental distinction between mind and matter, soul and body. For the seventeenth century thinkers 8 reality was divided into these two substances. Marvell's Dialogue supports their relationship. The Dialogue sets the two opposite poses. The idea that the soul endures exile in its house of clay is as old as Plato and it is seen in all Christian writings.