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The metaphysical poets is a term coined by the poet and critic Samuel Johnson to describe a loose group of English lyric poets of the 17th century, whose work was characterized by the inventive use of conceits, and by speculation about topics such as love or religion. These poets were not formally affiliated; most of them did not even know one another or read one another's work. ==Origin of the name== In the chapter on Abraham Cowley in his ''Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets'' (1779–81), Samuel Johnson refers to the beginning of the seventeenth century in which there "appeared a race of writers that may be termed the metaphysical poets". This does not necessarily imply that he intended metaphysical to be used in its true sense, in that he was probably referring to a witticism of John Dryden, who said of John Donne: Probably the only writer before Dryden to speak of a certain metaphysical school or group of metaphysical poets is Drummond of Hawthornden (1585–1649), who in one of his letters speaks of "metaphysical Ideas and Scholastical Quiddities".〔 Nor was Johnson's assessment of 'metaphysical poetry' particularly flattering, since he wrote: There is no scholarly consensus regarding which seventeenth-century English poets or poems may be regarded as in the 'metaphysical' genre. Colin Burrow, writing for the ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', describes John Donne, George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, Andrew Marvell, and Richard Crashaw as the 'central figures' of metaphysical poetry.〔Colin Burrow, ‘Metaphysical poets (act. c.1600–c.1690)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press. (accessed 7 May 2012 )〕 In 1921, Herbert Grierson published ''Metaphysical Lyrics and Poems of the Seventeenth Century'', which collected poems by Donne, Herbert, Vaughan, Marvell, and Carew.〔 Helen Gardner's ''Metaphysical Poets'' anthology, published in 1957, contained work by many more writers, including 'proto-metaphysical' poets such as William Shakespeare and Sir Walter Raleigh, and even poems by the Restoration libertine the Earl of Rochester.〔 As Burrow remarks, in Gardner's anthology 'The all-thinking, all-feeling metaphysical poets were becoming virtually coextensive with seventeenth-century poetry'.〔 By the 1980s many scholars described the 'metaphysical poets' idea as being little more than an attempt by Eliot and his followers to impose a 'high Anglican and royalist literary history' on seventeenth-century English poetry.〔 But in Burrow's view, the 'metaphysical poets' label still retains much value. For one thing, John Donne's poetry had considerable influence on subsequent poets, who emulated his style. And there are several instances in which seventeenth-century poets used the word 'metaphysical' in their work, meaning that Samuel Johnson's description has some foundation in the poetry of the previous century.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Metaphysical poets」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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