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Back to Subjects - Poetry

metaphysics

metaphysics Literary works in sixteenth-century England were rarely if ever created in isolation from other currents in the social and cultural world. The boundaries that divided the texts we now regard as aesthetic from other texts that participated in the spectacles of power or the murderous conflicts of rival religious factions or the rhetorical strategies of erotic and political courtship were porous and constantly shifting. It is perfectly acceptable, of course, for the purposes of reading to redraw these boundaries more decisively, treating Renaissance texts as if they were islands of the autonomous literary imagination. One of the greatest writers of the period, Sir Philip Sidney, defended poetry in just such terms; the poet, Sidney writes in The Defence of Poetry (NAEL 1.933-54), is not constrained by nature or history but freely ranges "only within the zodiac of his own wit." But Sidney knew well, and from painful personal experience, how much this vision of golden autonomy was contracted by the pressures, perils and longings of the brazen world. And only a few pages after he imagines the poet orbiting entirely within the constellations of his own intellect, he advances a very different vision, one in which the poet's words not only imitate reality but also actively change it. Characteristics ofMetaphysical PoetrY · brief and concentrated in its meaning · centered around dramatic situations o conceit: from the Italian concetto=thought o basis of comparison is surprising o aware if differences within similarity o draws on specialized areas of experience to describe love Definition of Metaphysical Poetry: Verse dealing with metaphysics, the use of philosophy to explain the human drama in the universe. (the term, metaphysical, was first applied to Donne in derogation of his excessive use of Dryden in 1693) · their tendency toward psychological analysis of the emotions of love and religion · their penchant for the novel and the shocking · their use of the metaphysical conceit (highly ingenious kind of conceit widely used by the metaphysical poets, who explored all areas of knowledge to find in the startlingly esoteric or the shockingly commonplace telling and unusual analogies for their ideas) · the extremes to which they sometimes carried their techniques, resulting frequently in obscurity, rough verse, and strained imagery. Intellectual, analytical, psychological, disillusioning, bold Absorbed in thoughts of death, physical love, religious devotion The diction is simple and echoes common speech. The imagery is drawn from the commonplace or the remote, actual life or erudite sources. The form is often that of an argument with the poet’s lover, with God, or with himself. The verse is often rough (Ben Jonson thought Donne "deserved hanging" for not observing accent). Rough verse could suggest that thought dominated the strict form. Ruggedness or irregularity of movement goes naturally with a sense of the seriousness and perplexity of life, with the realistic method, with the spirit of revolt, and with the sense of an argument cast in speech rather than song. Throughout the history of mankind, the concepts of time and death have been present in prose and poetry. Often, especially in earlier writings, they were personified as one in the same entity. This entity has been assigned different personas, some of which were value based, such as good or evil, and some of which were objectified, such as sand through an hourglass or the cycle of growth and death as seen in the harvest. In the religious poetry of the seventeenth century, one can find many different views on this aspect of literature. Among the most prominent are those of John Donne and George Herbert. In Donne’s tenth Holy Sonnet, he personifies Death and addresses him directly. Herbert also personifies this entity, but he chooses to address it as Time in his poem, appropriately titled, Time. Both Donne and Herbert directly address this figure concerning its effect on humankind’s relationship with God and the afterlife, but they do so from two very different perspectives. In the first quatrain of his tenth Holy Sonnet, John Donne aggressively and directly addresses Death, his tone critical and belittling. He begins by saying, "Death, be not proud…for thou art not so;" (1-2) which openly challenges Death’s authority and power. He explains by saying, "those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow/ Die not, poor Death" (3-4) which openly criticizes Death’s only supposed power over mortals. In the second quatrain, he explains his lack of fear at Death, by claiming that if Death be like sleep, which is good, than shouldn’t Death be better still? When he says, "From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,/ Much pleasure,"(5-6) he means that rest and sleep are but images of Death and these things are pleasurable. If rest and sleep are images of Death and they are pleasurable, it follows that Death itself must be more pleasurable, as something in reality is more intense than a photo or picture of it. He explains this by saying "then from thee much more must flow," (6) showing that Death must be even more pleasurable than sleep or rest. When he continues, "And soonest our best men with thee do go,/ Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery," he explains that Death has an extra advantage over sleep, which is its ability to free or release our souls from this apparently imprisoning world. I say this because there is an implicit suggestion that life is a prison from which one may be freed or delivered; one cannot be freed if one is not first imprisoned or restrained. Continuing to use the idea of restraint versus release into the third quatrain, Donne states that Death is, as we, a "slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men," (9) which expresses his view that Death has no more power over us than these. This is due to the fact that Death cannot collect our souls unless these people act to cause our demise. Donne portrays Death as a scavenger who "dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell," (10) because, it is implied, Death must wait for these to act before it may do its deed. Donne then criticizes Death even more, when he says, "and poppy or charms can make us sleep as well,/ And better than thy stroke; why swell’st thou now?" (11-12). This is a continuation of the comparison between Death and sleep, where Donne means that there are other ways to bring about a sleep state, some of which are more potent than Death’s stroke. He explains this statement when he says that Death is "One short sleep past, we wake eternally," (13) which is to say that the sleep of Death is short lived in comparison to that of an opium sleep due to our awakening to the afterlife. In the final couplet Donne explains what becomes of Death once it has taken our life. Donne says, "And Death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die." (14) clearly expressing the fact that once Death delivers us through a short sleep to eternal life, Death itself is rendered useless and will "die." Throughout the poem Donne has chided Death about its pride, saying that it has no reason to be so. He has reduced Death to a short nap before the afterlife, so to speak. In essence, he challenges and criticizes Death for its pride; however, he does not welcome it. This is not the case in the poem Time by George Herbert. In his poem, Time, Herbert uses much softer language in dealing with the figure that represents death or time. Herbert speaks of a meeting with Time, which lends a much gentler and more equitable relationship between the poet and his subject. Upon first meeting Time, Herbert says, " ‘Slack thing…thy scythe is dull; whet it for shame’" (1-2) expressing his dismay at the dull blade. This blade, or scythe, is traditionally associated with a reaper figure, who reaps the souls of the dead as one reaps wheat at harvest. The strangeness of this request is expressed by Time himself when Herbert writes " ‘No marvel, sir, he did reply,/ If it at length deserve some blame;/ But where one man would have me grind it,/ Twenty for one too sharp do find it,’" (3-6) which means that most people don’t want Time’s reaping scythe to be sharp. A quick explanation of this metaphor is necessary. A scythe, after much use, can grow dull. When this occurs, much less grain will be collected upon its use. That is to say, many stalks of grain escape the reaping. To apply this agricultural metaphor to man and Time, it means that Time harvests souls until his blade grows dull and he can harvest less. Most would be happy with escaping the reaping, but Herbert suggests that Time sharpen it so that more may be reaped more quickly and efficiently. Herbert explains himself in the second stanza. When he says, " ‘Perhaps some of old did pass,/ Who above all things loved this life;/ To whom the scythe a hatchet was,/ Which now is but a pruning knife," (7-10) he means that at one time for some people Time’s scythe (death) was painful and fatal, but now the scythe helps our souls to grow, as a pruning blade on a bush (Norton Anthology footnote, p.1380). He explains this change of role by Time and its scythe when he says, " ‘Christ’s coming hath made man thy debtor,/ Since by cutting he grows better," (11-12) he is referring to the fact that Christ’s dying on the cross gave us all eternal life. Now that Christ has sacrificed himself for us, death is merely a growing process to a better state; he is comparing Time and the death it brings to a gardener who prunes his wards to help them grow stronger. Into the third stanza he continues his explanation of this change. In the lines, " ‘for where thou only wert before/ An executioner at best," Thou art gardener now, and more,/ An usher to convey our souls/ Beyond the utmost stars and poles," (14-18) Herbert shows how Time has become a guide through life on into death and beyond to the afterlife. According to Herbert, Time now serves the more noble purpose of leading us to God through death. In the fourth stanza, Herbert explains how Time moves all too slowly when one is aware of the eternal happiness of heaven when he writes, " ‘And this is that makes life so long,/ While it detains us from our God.’"(19-20) He proceeds with this idea when he says, " ‘Who wants the place where God doth dwell/ Partakes already half a hell,’" (23-24 ) meaning that those who are not in heaven exist in a half-hell state which is life on earth. In the final stanza, Time responds by saying, "‘This man deludes:/ What do I here before his door?/ He doth not crave less time, but more," (29-30) which means that although Time is a gardener with good intent to take us to eternal salvation, we mortals crave more time during life; despite the fact that Herbert claims life is a horrid wait for death and the eternal heaven it brings, people still desire more time to live. According to Time, " ‘this man deludes,’" (28), which means that we who are mortal delude ourselves with desires for long life, when in reality death is, as Donne would say, a deliverance unto God. This delusion is what Herbert implicitly suggests we should shed to achieve happiness in life. Both Donne and Herbert agree on the true meaning of death; it is a wanted deliverance into a better existence. They both see life as being a prelude to our true selves – our eternal selves. Both of them look happily anticipate death, seeing life as a punishment; Herbert describes life as " ‘a rod’" (22) and Donne describes death as freedom, pleasure, and "delivery" (8). Despite these essential similarities, their perspectives on Time and Death differ. Donne is highly critical and demeaning of death, going so far as to say it is a scavenger that will die in the afterlife. Herbert, on the other hand, describes time as a gardener nurturing us, and helping us to grow into eternal peace. There are other differences as well. In Donne’s poem, Death never gets a chance to respond, making it seem helpless against Donne’s attacks. In Herbert, Time responds by pointing out man’s delusional shortcomings. Also, in Donne, Death is a static thing, a slave to those same factors which affect us as well. Herbert’s Time is dynamic; it has changed from executioner to usher due to the fact that Christ gave us the option of salvation. Basically, Donne hates Death for what it has become while Herbert loves Time for what it has become. Therein lies the root difference between Donne and Herbert as shown here – Donne is active, aggressive, challenging and hateful while Herbert is passive, accepting, and longing. Finally, it should be noted that Herbert explicitly awaits death with anticipation while Donne never really expresses that desire at all. Both George Herbert and John Donne discuss the relationship between death and humankind. They both see death as a passage to eternal life; however, their personifications of death in Death and Time are taken from opposing points of view – one a criticism and a challenge, one a compliment and an acceptance. Donne’s poem is a fairly simple decry against death as a mighty killer, while Herbert’s vision of death and humankind is more complex, with death itself being dynamic and humankind being deluded as to death’s true role. Although these two poems come from two different perspectives, they do agree on a central theme; death is not an event to be feared, but one to rejoice, as it brings eternal life. erbert introduced his own work, "The Temple," by describing it as an intensely personal exercise. The human yearning to work through emotional conundrums by imposing physical restraints on them is well known; we write in diaries, take out aggressions through physical exercise, talk to friends about our concerns. Herbert's "Temple" is not merely a working through his spiritual doubts, as he claims, but a celebration of God's grace in times of personal trial. "Jordan II" reveals Herbert's turbulent struggle between his poetic urges and his need to be humble before his lord. The poem begins in lines eleven syllables long, alternating with ten (iambic pentameter). This alternating rhythm gives way to complete iambic pentameter in the second and third stanzas. The eleven syllable lines strike the tongue oddly at first, soon becoming familiar with the combined pentameter lines. This effect aids the reader in feeling Herbert's initial feelings of inadequacy as he wrote his first poems dedicated to God. As he became engrossed in his new mode, he settles down with pentameter lines, but keeps his original rhyme scheme, perhaps a remaining symbol of his need for poetic decorum. The conceits of "Jordan II" are small, as is appropriate in a poem that hopes to abandon conceit. Herbert describes his struggle critically, comparing himself with a tailor for God, his poetry attempting to clothe Him in unmatchable splendor, yet paradoxically unable to surpass the magnificence of the wearer. As the poet realizes his impossible position, he recognizes the frenzy he has worked himself into - writing verse pleasing to the sensuous ear and tongue, and not the humble soul. Now his self-conscious humility speaks up, quiet and true, to end the verse and satisfy Herbert's questing pen. Like John Donne, Herbert uses his poems to question the nature of his relationship to God, often using conceits combined with fairly simple diction. Unlike Donne, Herbert is always able to submit to a higher power, with humility and resolution. Bibliography:

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