Context:
Renaissance Period
- Classical art/subjects, e.g. romance, sonnets, poetry 17th Century England
- Church
- Believed in Christianity
- Elizabethan
- Poetry,Shakespeare
Metaphysical language
- Meta: Greek for beyond
- Physics: physical nature
- BEYOND physical nature
- E.g., after death, nature of consciousness, explaining/unpacking chaos of universe
- Blend of emotion and intellectual ingenuity, characterised by conceit or “wit”
- Reader is forced to question/think deeply about subjects
- Basically, expressing feeling rather than analysing it, with the poet exploring the depth of his consciousness
Devices:
- Conceits: type of metaphor that is often unconventional and elaborate
- Paradox: used to question the unquestionable
- Pun: word play and/or jokes
- Imagery: often strange and contradictory
- Colloquial and personal language
- Extended metaphors
- Similes
- Anecdotes
- Hyperbole (exaggerations)
- Oxymorons
- Allusions (often to Greek and Roman myths, but sometime Biblical)
- Personification
- Symbolism
- Tone(often sardonic or reflective, e.g. melancholy, sad, bitter)
- Commonly argumentative