1. Metaphysical Poetry  Uses simple, every day speech  Abstract or theoretical reasoning  Complex sentence patterns  Often Philosophical themes  Contains: Extended metaphors (conceits) comparing very dissimilar things Paradoxes (contradictions) a statement that seems contradictory but nevertheless suggests a truth  Features disruptions in poetic meter  Also contains witty and imaginative plays on words

2. John Donne  When young, he wrote passionate love poems and sought the admiration of many women.  Later, married, had 12 children, became a minister, wrote over 160 sermons  An intellectual who contemplated life’s most difficult questions  Death was prominent in his day, few live past 50, wife died at 33, two still births, others died at ages 3, 7, and 19

3. John Donne  A Valediction was written to console his wife while he was in France  Sonnet 10 concerns death and salvation  Meditation 17 was inspired by church bells during an illness. Uses an extended metaphor to compare humanity to a book in which each person makes up a chapter. Donne’s writing frequently used paradox, unusual imagery, and surprising comparisons

4. Ben Jonson  A literary giant in London who socialized with Francis Bacon, John Donne, and Shakespeare, among others  He is remembered as a great playwright, as influencial as Shakespeare  Wrote some of the finest poetry in the English language  On My First Son and Still to be Neat deals with the speaker’s assumptions about life and people  Jonson’s son died at the age of seven and daughter died in infancy

5. Ben Jonson Epitaph: an inscription placed on a tomb to honor the memory of the person buried there.  Jonson made effective use Repetition (see Neat)  Jonson also is known for Lyric Poetry which has compact lines; precise, polished language; and an overall musical effect.

6. Metaphysical Poetry  Uses simple, every day speech  Abstract or theoretical reasoning  Complex sentence patterns  Often Philosophical themes  Contains extended metaphors comparing very dissimilar things AND Paradoxes (contradictions)  Features disruptions in poetic meter  Also contains witty and imaginative plays on words