Dr. Johnson’s Account of Metaphysical Poetry in Life of Cowley
Metaphysical
poetry is unified by a philosophical conception of the universe and of the role
assigned to the human spirit in the great drama of existence. This type of
poetry was known for bold and ingenious conceits, subtle thought and frequent
use of paradox as well as the directness of language.
Dr.
Johnson has followed Spat for guidance but he does not fail to give his own
ideas and opinions. He has compared two great poets of dissimilar genius,
Milton and Cowley. He has shown that Cowley and Milton may be compared but he
advantage seems to lie on the side of Cowley. Milton expresses the thoughts of
ancients in their language, but Cowley, without much loss of purity and
elegance, accommodates the diction of Rome to his own conception.
The
metaphysical poets usually wrote love poems and religious poems. Donne,
Marvell, Cowley and Vaughn wrote both these types of poems. According to Dr.
Johnson, the love poems of the metaphysical have a different character and
philosophy. Cowley added more perplexities to love. With the passage of time
love also changes its character. Earlier ‘Flesh’ was an important theme in
love, but with the age it changes in and that can be perceived in him now.
Everything is inconstant. Incest is now a taboo and now attraction of flesh
withers away. Dr. Johnson emphasizes that the tears of lovers are of great
poetical accounts and it is difficult to be properly comprehended. The readers
may read it again and again to find its proper meaning.
Dr.
Johnson finds in Donne’s love poems two souls are combined and mixed and the
two become one. Cowley describes his mistress- bathing wonderful. According to
Dr. Johnson, Cowley may be considered to be the best of metaphysical poets and
he had a great variety of style and sentiment. It ranges from levity to
grandeur.
The
metaphysical poets used the conceits to serve their purpose. Wit is an
important feature of metaphysical poetry. Metaphysical poetry has more music
and much sentiment. Ordinary readers were not acquainted with this kind of
style and use of conceits.
We
may conclude with the features of Johnson’s writing that Cowley was a greater
poet than Donne and his style of writing was really remarkable. Cowley is a
wonderful poet to no doubt but it is not fair to comment that in adopting the
metaphysical style Cowley surpassed his predecessors.
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ReplyDeleteDr. Sprat was the one who before Johnson wrote biography oh Abraham Cowley and was a friend of him as well.
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ReplyDeletewhat does the word "flesh" mean?(In 3para)
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