Okay, good morning everybody. I have to repeat this
several times, huh? Are you excited like Eid
holiday is imminent?
Have you plans for the holiday? Because usually we
do not plan. And because we do not plan, We feel
very sorry because we have not used, made use of
time. So I think I strongly recommend that you try
to plan your time. It's a long vacation. I think,
you know, you have, first of all, you have to
enjoy yourself at Eid. Do not like busy yourself
doing things, reading during the Eid because of
the midterm exam, I strongly recommend that you
enjoy yourself. However, like after Eid, you have
to plan and to work very hard. Anyway, today we
are going to see, it is an introductory lecture to
metaphysical poetry because today we're not
studying John Donne. So it's going to be a little
bit historical background, social background, and
perhaps general characteristics of the metaphysical
poetry. But before we start this, as usual, I need
a report. You read last time, I think. So we need,
yes, the lady there.
Okay, you just come here. Good morning everybody,
how are you? Daily report, actually this week I
suffered a lot and till this moment I feel
confused and stressed because of my crowded
schedule of the unfinished exams. So my
psychological condition is too bad because of
these exams and due crowded schedule of study
works. Believe me or not, before two days I began
to weep and my tears began to fall down
continuously and I began to seem like a mad one,
like a mad person because of these bad conditions.
Coming back to the poetry class, actually although
yesterday I was busy in studying because of the
today's exam and I was pressured and confused. I
felt all these issues, I left all these issues and
decided to think about what is suitable for the
report of the previous lecture. Consequently, I
remembered the lecture with some happiness. As
usual, it began by saying the daily report and
after that, the teacher gave us an obvious
explanation about the two poems of Shakespeare and
he ordered us to compare between them after giving
us the aesthetic elements in both poems. Okay,
thank you very much. And it's good like you have
the report as event out. I know like a lot of
students are pressured because of the midterm
exam, but you should know that midterm exams are
given under the pressure of classes and lectures.
So those who do not come to class Because of
midterm, a midterm, for me, it's like, you know,
cheating, you know, it's not like, honestly,
because, you know, we know that we want to test
you when you are having a lot of lectures,
classes, how you function, you function well or
you need time. Have, if you like are a good time
manager, you don't have a problem. But if you are
not, you'll be in trouble. Okay. I need another
report, another creative report. Creative. Let's
see. Okay.
But people will envy you because you have read
like several times. Okay, go ahead. Shakespeare's
words, of which he's so proud, whistled through my
head like rough wind so loud. He was right,
though, five decades on, and his words still flow.
Through paper and pen, the words remain so. And in
poetry class, his immortality does show. And I,
for one, I am one to know. Wow. Thank you very
much. Clap for her. So this is like, yes, it's
very creative. Good. I know a lot of you wrote
even more creative reports, but if anybody is
dying to read, I don't mind. If she feels she has
a wonderful report, I don't mind. She can read.
Okay, so, metaphysical poetry. What have you prepared
for us? It's a good question. What have you
prepared for us? Don't tell me fish and chips.
This has nothing to do with metaphysical poetry.
I'll be telling you the joke of fish and chips
later. Okay, metaphysical poetry, I don't know.
The term itself seems to be tough, metaphysical.
What is physical to say metaphysical? Okay, the
metaphysicals, you know, even like Amal say the
metaphysicals, you know? She's complicating it
more and more. Yes, what do you want to tell me?
Like, speak. Metaphysical poets? Yes. I'm ready to
listen. Yes, please.
Things that are beyond nature. Yeah, so you are
just like looking at metaphysical, something
beyond the physical. Yes, they were concerned with
highly philosophical issues. Man's relation with
God, man's experience in life, man's, you know,
like, relation with death, love, which is a
general issue, love to God, love to human beings,
yes. Yes.
I want to say that there's, at the time, it wasn't
really very spread and it wasn't very much read.
And it later became very prominent and analyzed.
But at the time, it was the time of religious,
like there were a lot of religious beliefs and
there were the Puritan. Yeah, thank you very much.
Yes. Like the metaphysical poets were elitist. Yes.
They were not writing for, you know, they were not
like Shakespeare, Spencer, and others. They were
not writing for the common people. They were
elitist. They were highly educated. And, you know,
they were a little bit chauvinistic because they
wanted to show that they were, you know, very
good. So their poetry was inaccessible for lay
people, for ordinary people. Their poetry was very
difficult. They used their wit, their mind, their
intellect to write poetry. That's why they were
not popular. And you know what? It is only just in
20th century, like it was T.S. Eliot who brought
them to surface. Samuel Johnson was the critic who
was first called them the metaphysical poets. But you
mentioned the religious because it's very
important to talk about the religious background.
In 1603, Elizabeth died, and James I, the first
king from the Stuart family, because Elizabeth was
Tudor. So we're talking about dynasty, it's a
different dynasty. James Stuart I, who was of
Scottish origin, If you remember, when Shakespeare
wrote Macbeth, he was complimenting him, he was
flattering him, like he was a descendant of, you
know, the Scottish, of Banquo, if you remember.
Like this, the King was religious, and he was
accredited for translating the Bible, you know,
the authorized version of the Bible. So during his
time, the Bible was widely read because before,
you know, he translated it, you know, from Latin
into English, you know, a few people like the
Bible was limited to a few people. But when it
became translated in English, so a lot of people
started reading the Bible. And when you see a lot
of people start to read, it means they become very
religious and the arguments, the controversy
start. And this is what happened in that
century. So the religious tension began to
increase mainly between the Catholic and the
Protestant. And even in, you know, 1605, there
was, you know, the Catholic were trying to blow up
the parliament and kill the king. You know, it was
called the Gunpowder Plot. the gunpowder which was
referred in Macbeth. But James was very tough with
them and he put a lot of them in prison. The
Catholic were not treated very well. They did not
have their rights or they did not have their
rights in employment. I mean, their social rights,
they were denied their social rights because of
their creed. This one thing. Another thing, on the
other side, the Protestant themselves had some
argument among themselves and the Protestant, some
of them were very radical, very extremist called
the Puritans. Those Puritans wanted the king to
change more. They wanted to press him to change
more, to clean the English church out of the
Catholic, you know, churches. So they were
pulling, you know, to the extreme. And the king
wanted, like, to be in the middle. What happened,
like, as a result, he, you know, kicked them out,
like about 3,000 of them. They were deported to
Holland, like it was in 1620, something like this,
1618, 1819. They were, you know, deported to
Holland. And, you know, after one year, they
started their journey to America. And they settled
in Massachusetts, mainly in Jamestown. And this is
how, like, of course, America was explored before
that. America after Marlowe and, you know, when
Marlowe was writing "Come Love With Me", when
Spencer was writing, America was already
discovered. And, like, you know, the literature of
that time was promoting people to go to America.
So here we have the first, you know, American
settlement or the first English settlement, which
was started by the British themselves on the east
coast, the northeast coast in Massachusetts, a
settlement called Jamestown Settlement. So that
was the atmosphere. This atmosphere continued, you
know, to be complicated more and more until
England became in 1942 in a state of civil war.
There was a civil war. This continued, this civil
war continued until 19, sorry, 1651. What
happened, you know, because in, I think, in 1635,
King James died, and Charles I, his son, took
over. He was a weak king. And during his time, the
Civil War broke out. This is a bit history. It
helps us in having a good background to study the
metaphysical poetry. You know, there was a civil
war. Of course, the civil war was very bitter. A
They were dismissed. They didn't appreciate poetry.
They didn't appreciate imagination. They didn't
appreciate this. So poetry had to meet certain
rules and regulations. It was not like
Shakespeare, festive, lyrical. So poetry was
didactic. Poetry was satirical. And those, the
famous poets of, you know, that time, I mean,
like Alexander Pope and John Dryden. They are
missing in our course, you know, we're not
teaching them, but we'll start from the pre
-romantic, from William Blake and the Romantics.
So this is a bit of history about the 17th
century. Thank you for introducing this. So you
could say it was an age of uncertainty. But we
should know also, in spite of this, England was
progressing in the field of research in the field
of academia, I mean, you know, scientific. It was
progressing, you know, in chemistry, in, you know,
physics, in, you know, there were many
explorations. New continents were explored. So it
was the age of exploration. It was the age of
expansion. And it was the age of scientific
progress. So it... Everything was changing. So new
theories, even new theories about the Earth, about
our reality changed. So those poets, I mean, the
mythical poets were writing in an age which was
characterized by a great deal of uncertainty. So
all theories about the world being, you know,
like, flat have changed now. And everything, man's
relation with God, like, has been reconsidered.
So this is a bit of history. Let me listen to you.
If you like, speak, tell me, I explain. You know,
this is me, you know? So, what have you prepared
for us? Yes?
Yes, so you are referring to the metaphysical
poets, yes? Now, we're dealing with a generation.
Now, in fact, The 17th century was not the century
of the metaphysical poets. We have three groups of
poets. We have the metaphysical poets. We have the
Cavalier poets, the Cavalier, and we have the
followers of Ben Jonson. So we have the medical
who were writing in the fashion of John Donne. We
have the Cavalier who were writing in the fashion
of George Herbert. And we have the traditional ones
who were writing in the fashion of Ben Jonson. The
most obtruse and difficult were the metaphysical
poets. The Cavalier poets were a little bit
hedonistic. They were bohemian. Their life was not
a life of austerity. They wanted to enjoy their
life. They wanted to enjoy their life before they
die. Philosophy of life depended on enjoying your
life before you die, and that was called the theme
of Carpe Diem. These terms, I'm going to write
them for you later. But just I'm introducing them.
Now, the metaphysical poets were poets who wrote
in a different style. Yes, they were difficult
because of their argument. What's wrong with their
argument?
Yes, so like, you know, they were argumentative. I
mean, they introduced an argument, a thesis, and
they continued you know, elaborating it, arguing,
until they convince us about their point of view.
So they were arguing. They were introducing
arguing, and usually when they introduce the
argument, you know, it was very abrupt. So, for
example, John Donne, when John Donne started his
poetry, he started like, you know, in a very
abrupt, like, "Go and catch," you know, the falling
star or, like, the sun rising. The opening of the
sun rising is very, you know, abrupt. The opening
of "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning" is very abrupt. Abrupt
like sudden, you know. Yes. Isn't John Donne a
romantic poet? No, John Donne was a metaphysical
poet. He was
No, no, no, no. No, we don't like, he was, no,
huh? No, no romanticism. You know, the issue of
romanticism is a little bit different, you know?
Once we approach romanticism, we want to talk
about it in a different way. Good. Yes, their
poetry was difficult. Their poetry was
characterized by you know, by imagery which was
drawn from Not the roses, not the summer, but it
was drawn from chemistry, from, you know, from
physics, from astronomy, astrology. So yes, they
were referring, the images were drawn from the
emergent field of knowledge during that time.
Yes, okay, we'll talk about the conceit, the
paradoxes, you know, in a moment. Yes. Okay, let's
see. Now, I don't want to keep asking you. Let's
see here, what do we have? As you say, in
metaphysical poetry, Amal started by just
arranging this. As you see here, we have strange
heterogeneous ideas. like ideas which are
heterogeneous, not homogeneous. And she's
referring to man's relationship with God. So John
Donne was talking to God as if he was talking to a
person.
Surprising and unexpected beginning, like, "Butter
My Heart," "Three-Person God." A man is starting by
asking God to butter his heart.
Okay? You know, riddles, like their poetry is like
riddles because, you know, you have something
like, "We are two but we are one." You know, it's
like a riddle. How come you are, you know, they
invite you to think how, you know, and in Andrew
Marvell, look, Andrew Marvell, he says at the end
of his "To His Coy Mistress," "His Coy Mistress," though we
cannot make ours, we cannot stop our son, but we
can make it run. How can you, you know, you can't
stop The sun, but you can make it run. How? Can
you tell me? Yeah, it's very strange, isn't it?
It's like a riddle. You know, it's like a riddle.
How can't you make the sun? And this is like the,
this is a paradox, of course. Yeah, it is very
perplexing. I don't know. Of course, this is the
paradox is easy. But when it comes to the conceit,
it is more obtruse. It's more complicated. And in
a moment, I'll be talking about the conceit. So
how come you cannot stop your son, but you can
make it run? I'm telling you because, in fact, to
"His Coy Mistress," which is very vulgar and you're
not going to study it, At the end, he was like
inviting, you know, or he wanted to enjoy his
life. So he was trying to persuade, you know, a
lady to enjoy his life. But she was, you know,
adamant. So in the poem, he said, "We cannot," yes,
"we cannot stop." We don't have control over our
life. We cannot stop, you know, the sun, the time
itself. Because we cannot stop. We have no
control, but we can make it run. By enjoying
ourselves, we can make it run. See what I mean? So
this is the paradox. Okay? We, by enjoying
ourselves, we can make our son run. I don't know,
all these are epithets which apply for, yes,
surprise, strange ideas, surprising or unexpected,
you know, unexpected beginning,
you know, of the poems.
Poetry and verses, they don't have this smooth
lyrical tone. Their poetry is harsh, you know? It
is harsh. It is very noisy, like what we are going
to see in "Butter My Heart." "Blow, burn, boo, boo,"
you know? It's like very noisy poetry, you know?
They are exaggerating, they are revolutionary, far
-fetched, it's the conceit itself. What is the
conceit? The conceit is what?
What is a conceit? Do you have an example of a
conceit?
"The Flea," okay. I don't want to like to talk about
the flea, but I want like to give you an example
of a conceit. A conceit is what? It is an analogy,
you know, analogy. It is a strange analogy or a
strange simile or a metaphor in which the
relationship between the vehicle and the tenor is
very remote, is unexpected. You see what I mean?
So, John Donne, in one of his poems called,
"A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning," he compared
himself and his wife to the two legs of a compass.
And he said, like, you know what is a compass? The
two legs of a compass, like here, it's like this.
This is a compass, the two legs of a compass. And
he said, like, "If they are two, they are, they be
two. If they be two, they are two." Like twin
compasses are two. They are the fixed soul and the
fixed thought, you know, makes no show to move,
but does the other do. You see what I mean? Like
whatever he wants to say, like you and I are like
the two legs of a compass. This is very
surprising. I think, you know, the surprising
thing, you know, if you want to understand the
poetry of John Donne, you have to have a
calculator. You have to measure. Yes. That's why,
you know, John Dryden, a 17th and 18th century
poet, said that John Donne should have been
hanged. Why? Because he kept perplexing the mind
of the fair sex, I mean the ladies, by his witty
and strange philosophical, you know, speculations
and by his conceits, you know? Now, let me, like,
in the poem, John Donne was elaborating, was
explaining. And, you know, to explain in the
metaphysical poetry when they wanted, because
sometimes you want to convince the people about
the appropriateness of this image, about the
aptness of this image, so you have to keep
persuading them. How, you know? How come, like,
this? You know, once I told my wife, you know,
"This is personal, you are like the wall." She was
upset with me. You know? "You are like this wall."
them metaphysical poetry. And, in fact, it was,
you know, he named them not out of veneration or
respect, but out of disrespect. You know? You know,
sometimes when we don't respect people, we say...
You know? You know, the... the nasty, you know?
And, like, Samuel Johnson, you know, used this,
you know, as a kind of disrespect. It was
disparaging, the metaphysical, the crazy people,
you know? So usually, like, they were turned,
like, metaphysical. Why? Because they were... When
they wanted to persuade you They tried to yoke
together. You know what I mean? Yoke, bring
together two things which are not likely to be
connected. And that was the cleverness. So they
were yoking together heterogeneous ideas.
Heterogeneous ideas.
Like what Eliot said about, you know, them. Eliot
said that those poets were a generation more often
named than read, and more often read than
profitably studied. Like, they were neglected. He
admired them. Because C.S. Eliot was a poet who
evaluated poetry of ideas, poetry of strong ideas,
of, you know, difficult ideas. And, of course, he
thought that, you know, the Middlesex poets were
modern because of their conceits and paradoxes.
So as you see here, the phrase metaphysical has
long done duty as a term of abuse. They were
abusing them. It was not a kind of respect.
So they had their reputation. because their poetry
was very strong. And even though critics continued
criticizing them, they were very strong. Here,
this is the first characteristic, the wit or the
conceit. What is the conceit here? It is a
combination of dissimilar images or discovery of
occult resemblance. Occult, like you see, it is
very, you know, not straightforward. It's the
opposite. A resemblance in things apparently
unlike. So, like in The Flea, which you gave an
example. Here we have a poem. This is The Flea. In
fact this poem seems to be you know He talks about
what is strange about John Donne. Like, when he
was talking about religion, he was talking about
religion in terms of love. And when he was talking
about love, he was talking about, you know, love
in terms of religion. So here, like, he was trying
to persuade, you know, like, I don't know, a lady.
And he said, you and I are like a flea. You know?
So you and I, we are three in one. You and I. Why?
Because this flea sucked your blood and it sucked
my blood. So we are three in one. But all of this,
You know, like what he wanted to say, like, you
know, he wanted to express a very central
Christian notion of the idea of a Trinity, you
know, God three in one. Which, of course, as a
Muslim, we don't buy this at all. So he was using
this conceit, but he was using it in a very, you
know, vulgar manner, in a very, you know, erotic.
These are erotic images, you know? So yes, one
characteristic of the metaphysical poetry, they
were using erotic images.
Now, this is better my heart is the poem which we
want to study. But of course, the list I have just
given you is not complete because there are more
characteristics. So I prefer to read this poem and
to consider more characteristics after Eid. But I
want to read this poem aloud for you And then, you
know, you consider how you analyze this and how
you prepare it and how you respond for it. Okay?
Better my heart, three-person God, for you as yet
but not breathe shine and seek to mend that I may
rise and stand, overthrow me and bend your force
to break, blow, burn, and make me new. I, like an
usurped town, to another due? Labor to admit you,
but owe to no end? Reason your viceroy in me. Me
should defend what is captive and proves weak or
untrue? Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved
thin. But I'm betrothed into your enemy. Divorce
me, untie, break that knot again. Take to me,
imprison me, for I accept you, for I accept you
enthrall me, never shall be free, nor ever chased,
except you ravage me. It could be read, like, also
in a different way. It could be read like this. By
my heart, three-person God for you as yet but not
brave shine and seek to men that I may rise. It
could be like something like this. It's very
noisy. It's like, you know, like crab. You know?
Okay. Divorce me, untie or break that knot again.
Take me to you. Imprison me, for I accept. You
enthrall me, never shall be free, never chase
except you ravage me. So read it, respond to it,
and then inshallah after Eid, we're going to
consider this, reconsider, we are going to
reconsider. Thank you for listening. I wish you a
happy Eid. I wish you enjoy your Eid as I
recommended. Enjoy your Eid, and then study hard.
Thanks a lot.