ENG 338 Metaphysical Poetry
Metaphysical poems are witty, cerebral poems that use elaborate metaphors or "conceits" to comment on a range of elusive "big topics" including the nature of love, death, evil, and God. Form, style, and imagery are considered as well as the historical contexts in which this poetry emerged in England. Students are introduced to a range of seventeenth-century poets including John Donne, George Herbert, and Richard Crashaw, as well as the work of later poets influenced by seventeenth-century poetry. [H, W]