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When Samuel Johnson coined the term “metaphysical poetry” towards the end of the 18th century, he followed the negative judgment already presented by John Dryden about a century earlier according to which the most famous exponent of the metaphysical style, John Donne, “affects the Metaphysicks […] where Nature only shou’d reign; and perplexes the Minds of the Fair Sex with nice Speculations of Philosophy”. While this affectation manifests itself most clearly in the metaphysical conceits that have often been considered more striking than just in their surprising combinations of worldly phenomena with transcendent and/or philosophically speculative terms; these features mark a more serious shift in the history of English poetry: the attention to the pragmatic dimensions of poetic texts and the dynamic situatedness of poetic utterances. In the realm of secular poetry can be attributed to the courtly environment, and the specific forms of behaviour and interpretation courtly self-fashioning imposed. The religious variant of metaphysical poetry, on which this class will focus, points to the changing conditions of devotion. Here, the reformation led not only to a new emphasis on the word and the text (of scripture), but also new practices that stressed the private encounter with texts as part of devotional practices.
This module will focus on these devotional practices and the pragmatic, subject-philosophical and epistemological implications in the religious metaphysical poems. It will consider the role of poetry and poetic language in establishing a new form of private space, a space of encounter between the word and the world, that oscillates between forms of radical linguistic empowerment and its dispossession in gestures of utmost humility.
Please be aware that this course is designed as a weekly three-hour class, instead of the more usual rhythm of a weekly seminar and a reading course in alternating weeks. |
