Metaphysical poets
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The term Metaphysical poets was coined by the critic Samuel Johnson to describe a loose group of 17th-century English poets whose work was characterised by the inventive use of conceits, and by a grea
The poet Abraham Cowley, in whose biography Samuel Johnson first named and described Metaphysical poetry
The title page of Henry Vaughan's Silex Scintillans, 1650
"Europe supported by Africa and America", William Blake, 1796
John Donne
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John Donne was an English poet, scholar, soldier and secretary born into a recusant family, who later became a cleric in the Church of England. Under royal patronage, he was made Dean of St Paul's Cat
Metaphysical poets
…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: He affects the metaphysics, not only in his satires, but in his amorous verses, where nature only should reign; and perplexes the minds of the fair…
Portrait by Isaac Oliver, 1616
Part of the house where Donne lived in Pyrford
The memorial to John Donne, St Paul's Cathedral
John Donne Memorial by Nigel Boonham, 2012, St Paul's Cathedral Churchyard