Metaphysical poetry was originally a style of poetry to describe the poet John Donne's work, but then later extended to a school of 17th century poets. The verse deals with the use of philosophy to explain the human drama in the universe. Their poetic style and method is what linked the poets together. Here, the poets Andrew Marvell, who wrote 'To His Coy Mistress', George Herbert who wrote 'Love' and John Donne who wrote 'The Sun Rising' all fit into the metaphysical grouping.

All the poems include an argument within themselves. The poem 'To His Coy Mistress' is structured within a syllogistic framework - which begins with an initial premise, then introduces a qualification to the premise, and ends with a resolution to the conflict. In addition, Marvell manages to marry a syllogistic framework with a passionate poem of seduction. He firstly argues that if the couple had all the time in the world, he would woo his lady so slowly her coyness would be irrelevant.

"Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness, lady, were no crime."

He proceeds to outline what he would do out of love for his lady if they were both to live for much longer, mentioning such lengths of time as centuries and ages. Throughout this initial premise of 'if', he uses esoteric imagery to illustrate his argument. For example, he describes his life as a 'vegetable' love, which not only gives connotations of a slow, developing love to grow for his 'mistress', but also the description of a 'vegetable soul.' The vegetable soul is the lowest level of the soul in the Renaissance concept in the levels of reason. Therefore, this suggests a kind of love that could exist without sensual enjoyment and suggests, by its association with the vegetable soul, that it is a lower form of love than sexual love. This is because the middle soul - the 'sensible soul' – deals with passion and love. This use of metaphysical conceit is common in all the poems, and Marvell's technique of drawing upon philosophy to illustrate his argument gives the poem an intellectual appeal, not just a visual one. There is also complete devotion displayed in this first stage of the argument, namely:

"I would Love you ten years before the flood. And you should, if you please, refuse Till the conversion of the Jews."

Here, this deals with the extremity of his argument. He is prepared to love her ten years before the 'flood' (presumably Noah's Ark), and would not be at all insulted if she refused to love him back until the conversion of the Jews, seemingly until the end of time. Once his opinions have been established, he then continues to the second stage of his argument.

Beginning with the conjunction of 'But' - a word that prepares us for an alternative argument, Marvell's second stage in his syllogistic framework refutes the initial premise by addressing the concepts of reality. He now asserts that time is an issue, having already established that if it wasn't, his method of seduction would be different. By firstly shifting to the present tense, which creates a sense of immediacy, he then uses more stylistic devices to convey the sense of urgency that is necessary when he is discussing the lack of time that the couple possess. For example, he firstly describes the 'winged chariot' that is 'hurrying near.' The winged chariot metaphor gives the reader connotations of a fast and furious speed, which is then neatly juxtaposed with the 'Deserts of vast eternity' – which gives an atmosphere of a slow, fruitless future.

Marvell then has a pronoun switch, which draws the woman directly into the argument and enhances the sense of intimacy, with the intimate form of 'you' - 'thy.' Marvell then uses grim, humourous, phallic imagery to demonstrate how lust will inevitably die, and the consequence of there being no lust in death.

"Thy beauty shall no more be found; ....then worms shall try That long-preserved virginity."

There is a grim, dark humour present, not only with the phallic imagery of the worms, but also the use of 'quaint', which also had a crude, underlying meaning at the time when the poem was written.

The third and final stage is the resolution of the argument in the syllogistic framework. Marvell asserts that due to him being unable to love her slowly and realising that time is precious, he resorts to the logical conclusion of a quickening of affection: "Now let us sport us while we may..."

This hurried tone is present throughout the final stage, however Marvell also uses the realities of life to subvert the premise of the first part of the argument. To do so, he uses extremely strong imagery again to conclude his argument with the last part of the argument concentrating on sexual imagery, such as the 'amorous birds of prey/Rather at once our time devour' (which can also be extended to an image of the couple seizing control of the issue by devouring time) and 'the iron gates of life'. Also, adverb use enhances the intensity of his emotion, such as 'Now..', being an imperative - conveying his sense of urgency to the reader, and 'Let us' (also asserting their mutual, joint enterprise), and 'willing' - insinuating a sexual eagerness. The use of metaphysical conceits here make the argument much more than a brief sexual encounter, but a vigorous sexual union where Marvell wishes to defy barriers and the concept of time, which is summed up in a crescendo in lines 45 and 46:

"Thus, though we cannot make our sun Stand still, yet we will make him run."

The last couplet sums up the whole argument - Marvell expresses that although they cannot stop time, they as a couple can control how fast the time goes. This is reminiscent of the carpe diem theme and the poem by Herrick: 'Gather ye rosebuds' - celebrating the enjoyment of life and the need to 'seize the day.' Furthermore, the words 'Stand still' can be related back to Joshua in the Old Testament, where he commanded the sun to stand still whilst he did heroic deeds. This is clever, ironic humour, as earlier in the poem he implies the lack of an afterlife, as the woman is destined to lie in the marble vault and only vast deserts (implying nothing) of eternity lies before them, instead of the spirit being reborn into an eternal life.

Marvell also uses the rhyme scheme of the poem to re-emphasise this union of two parts. The entire poem consists of rhyming couplets, which takes two separate lines and make a matching pair out of them. In addition, the concentrated style of the poem and the frequent use of enjambment demonstrate the compression and intensity of Marvell's argument.

Marvell's uses learned and diverse reference to not only the Bible but also to philosophy, combined with the logical structure (unusual for a love ballad, as the structure almost takes on a business-like arrangement), frank emotion and sexuality and humour (although still with a light tone). Although the basic argument is a sexual conquest, it also is an assertion of human capability to defy the imperatives of time.

John Donne's 'The Sun Rising' contains no argument with a human being, but with a natural element - the sun. From Line 15 onwards, Donne uses metaphysical conceit - something extremely typical of him, where he draws upon a vast range on images and knowledge to make his point and develop his conceits. Once the lovers in bed are established, Donne angrily rebukes the sun for interfering in their pleasures. In addition, the poem plunges the reader into a situation without explanation, as the 'us' that Donne refers to is initially anonymous, which creates a sense of expectation and a desire to know more about the characters in the poem.

Donne not only orders the sun to go away, but also gives a list of reason for it to do so.

"Saucy pedantic wretch, go chide Late schoolboys and sour prentices;"

Donne uses a flippant, tone in the first stanza until the final couplet. Here, Donne tries to put order into endless love with:

"Love, all alike, no season knows nor clime.."

Donne explains his mutual love in a universe that has no time restrictions. Unlike the physical world, the world of love is not bound by seasons and hours, but is endless - which also suggests the physical world's inferiority to the love he is experiencing. Donne uses the metaphor of the 'rags of time' to display its irrelevance within the concept of love. The last line has an extremely effective use of caesuras to give a sense of time:

"Nor hours, days, months, which are the rags of time."

This gives a methodical sense to the poem, and by slowing the actual poem not only draws attention to these lines but also makes the tone more serious.

In the second stanza Donne challenges the power of the sun, once more insulting the sun by telling the it that he could destroy the sun merely by closing his eyes, so there's no need for the sun to feel at all 'reverend and strong.' However, he refuses to do this, as by closing his eyes will block out the sight of his lover. From Line 15 onwards, Donne uses metaphysical conceit - something extremely typical of him, where he draws upon a vast range of knowledge to express his thought. Donne describes their relationship as 'both th' Indias' - which also at first glance appears confusing, on further analysis reveals not only the spices of East India, but the vast riches of the West Indies - signifying their all-encompassing, priceless wealth. However, in the last two lines of the first stanza, Donne alters his perception of the world and his attitude to the sun:

"Ask for the kings whom thou saw'st yesterday, And thou shalt hear, all here in one bed lay."

Now, instead of asking the sun to leave him and his lover so they can be uninfluenced by time and to remain uninterrupted by the outside, social world, here the poet claims that the social sphere is in his bed. He claims that love has made his bed a treasure chest - as all the kings and the riches of the world are encompassed in that bed, and therefore embodied in themselves.

However, a sense of ownership is present in the following lines of the third stanza, with:

"She's all states, and all princes I:"

This suggests that although she is all the states in the world, he is all the princes - and inevitably rules over them and her. He then reduces the world to nothing by comparing them to his love - all the wealth is a fraudulent alchemy, whilst all the honour is the world is mimicked.

Donne claims that the sun is only half as happy as his relationship, and as the sun is frail and old and should not over stretch itself working, Donne believes the sun's job is complete. Considering the sun's work is to warm the world, and he has established already that him and his lover are the world, then he does not need to do anymore. Donne, who firstly told the sun to go away and wake up the rest of the world, through his logic of argument as decided that they are the world instead, and the sun is no longer needed.

Donne, like Marvell, also uses reasoning and logic to convey his argument. In addition, 'The Sun Rising' is quite a complex poem, which is reflected in the irregular line length, the 'knotty' imagery and lines which are initially difficult to follow - which in turn reflect the experiences of life as it is lived (which Donne was interested to capture).

Another complex poem within the metaphysical school if ‘Love’, by George Herbert. Here, Herbert writes an allegory – a narrative in which the characters and events are coherent on the first level of understanding but have a correspondence at a deeper level. The poem is religious, which is not unusual for Herbert who specialised in religious poetry.

The first stanza of ‘Love’, on the surface, describes a character willing to make the writer his guest, although the author feels guilty to do so. However, the character named ‘Love’ observes the writer’s guilt and beckons him in further. Here, ‘Love’ is portrayed as a kind, sweet and gentle character. The personification of Love here goes further – Love here is an active character, which embodies all the qualities of love itself.

“Love bade me welcome.. ..quick-eyed Love.. ..sweetly questioning..”

The gentle tone in which Love is described is a device used by Herbert to sense that this is indeed an allegory – and becomes clear that this is in fact a discussion of the nature of God and the nature of human beings. Throughout the first stanza there are religious references – such as ‘dust and sin’ – a reference to God making Adam and the concept of ‘Original Sin.’ Herbert is aware of the sin that humankind has, and feels guilty of welcoming ‘Love’, or God. Herbert gives us a gentle and loving God – not the jealous God that is reminiscent in the Old Testament.

In the second stanza Herbert takes the relationship between God and mankind a stage further. On the surface Herbert is a character who feels unworthy to be Love’s guest. He feels ungrateful, and unable to even look at Love due to his feelings of worthless compared to him. However, Love gently reminds Herbert that it was him that made his eyes – “Who made the eyes but I?” and attempts to convince Herbert that he is worthy to be his guest. However, the deeper meaning explains how although man feels unworthy to look upon God with its sin, God made man, and as being part of God’s creation we are part of God. He is also emphasising the forgiving nature of man, even though it is fallen.

This stanza contains a strong emphasis on dialogue, as this makes the characters easier to imagine and sets the scene. The rhyme scheme continues from the first (being a,b,a,b,c,c) which conveys a gentle tone – as there are no anomalies to draw attention to a particular phrase. There is also the continuation of the God being portrayed as a loving God, and continues the argument that Herbert made in the first stanza – that God is inviting him to share his love and worship, and Herbert feels unworthy to do so.

The third stanza brings in more religious references. Herbert argues with God, as although God created him, it was him that sinned, and had his eyes ‘marred.’ Therefore, he wishes to let his sin go where it deserves (possibly to hell). However, God retaliates with:

““And know you not,” says Love, “who bore the blame?””

This is in relation to Christ – as Christ redeemed mankind of original sin and therefore God is willing to invite him into a union fully with him. God then gives the imperative ‘must’, and orders him to sit and ‘taste my meat.’ On the surface, this is a narrative about someone unwilling to participate in a banquet, which has connotations of the last supper, and the Christian practises in the Eucharist denominations. The poem concludes with:

“So I did sit and eat.”

Which demonstrates Herbert’s acceptance of what God believes. The theme throughout the poem is that God is accepting of flawed humanity. The underlying meaning in this poem is drawn out by the various religious references and drawing on the ‘cultural capital’ of the time when it was written. Although more confusing in present times due to less people having a through knowledge of the Bible, in the strongly religious times when Herbert was alive the meaning and references in the poem would have been very clear. Here, the use of the first person pronoun ‘I’ throughout the poem is used to represent the whole on mankind, and not just a single person. However, by referring to mankind as ‘I’ makes the poem more intimate and illustrates everybody’s own personal relationship with God.

The themes which link all these poems together is primarily one of love – Marvell wishes to take his and his mistress’ love to a deeper level, Donne wishes the sun to depart to make time irrelevant to him and his love, and Herbert writes about mankind and his relationship with love. All the poems capture a dramatic distinct voice, often by using direct address (‘Truth, Lord’ – ‘Love’), shock tactics (‘Then worms shall try that long-preserved virginity’ – ‘To His Coy Mistress’) and rough idiom (‘Busy old fool’ – ‘The Sun Rising).

Where the poets differed in their view of the world, they were linked together by their poetic style and method. Firstly, their arguments are original – they use logical reasoning, which draws upon philosophy and religion to clarify their arguments, but manage to marry intellect and passion by combining a dramatic argument with a situation of intense human experience – because intensity of emotion is not a place where rational reasoning and logical argument usually reside. This is what makes the metaphysical school of poets so unique, and is also a factor of their wit and humour. All the poems have argument consisting of the main body of he poem, whereas the intense imagery and emotion is conveyed through the language that is used. Language in all the poems is simple and usually direct, and the verse is occasionally rough, like speech, rather than written in a concise, smooth manner, resulting in a dominance of thought over form.

All the metaphysical poets have drawn on the same key features of not only using logic and reasoning to explain intense emotions, but also draw upon specialized areas such as law, religion, and philosophy to describe their love, often in conceits – an unusual tactic to adopt, which produces a witty and humourous style to many pieces of work in this particular school of poets.