Metaphysical Shadows: The Persistence of Donne, Herbert, Vaughan, and Marvell in Contemporary Poetry

Metaphysical Shadows explores how Donne, Herbert, Vaughan, and Marvell's poetry continues to inspire contemporary poets, offering intellectualism, emotional intensity, and verbal richness. Echoes, allusions, and direct responses demonstrate the continuing relevance of seventeenth-century English metaphysical poetry in the twenty-first century.

Format: Hardback
Length: 214 pages
Publication date: 01 March 2022
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Metaphysical Shadows: The Persistence of Donne, Herbert, Vaughan, and Marvell in Contemporary Poetry explores the enduring influence of the poetry of John Donne, George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, and Andrew Marvell on contemporary working poets. Modern Anglophone poets, ranging from T. S. Eliot and Archibald MacLeish in the 1920s and 1930s to Seamus Heaney, Maureen Boyle, Alfred Corn, Anne Cluysenaar, Kimberly Johnson, and Jericho Brown in the twenty-first century, have discovered a striking modern intellectualism, emotional intensity, and verbal richness in the works of these poets, which have inspired their own creations. Traces of this inspiration can be found in echoes, allusions, direct responses, and similarities in approach and method as poets forge their own unique voices. These contemporary engagements provide valuable insights into how literary studies can engage with the literature of the past without compromising its critical analysis. They also underscore the enduring relevance of seventeenth-century English metaphysical poetry in the twenty-first century. The poems of Donne, Herbert, Vaughan, and Marvell continue to cast shadows, leaving a lasting impact on contemporary poetry.

Weight: 470g
Dimension: 158 x 235 x 22 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781793635433