Metaphysical Lyrics and Poems of the Seventeenth Century: Donne to Butler [Paperback]

Alastair Fowler (Compiler), Herbert J. C. Grierson (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 019282290X | ISBN-13: 978-0192822901 | Publication Date: February 23, 1995 | Edition: 2

This classic anthology, first published in 1921, has been instrumental in reviving interest in the seventeenth-century metaphysical poets and in securing for them the high reputation they now enjoy. This new edition includes the same poems as the original--love poems, divine poems, elegies, satires, epistles, and meditations by over twenty-five different poets ranging from Suckling and Donne to Marvell and Herbert. Grierson's brilliant introductory essay is included, while Alastair Fowler has contributed a new introduction and notes and modernized the spellings throughout.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Alastair Fowler is Professor of English at the Universities of Virginia and Edinburgh, between which he divides his time. He is the editor of The New Oxford Book of Seventeenth-Century Verse (1992).

Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA; 2 edition (February 23, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 019282290X
• ISBN-13: 978-0192822901
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,899,697 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A landmark in literary history, June 11, 2006

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Metaphysical Lyrics & Poems of the Seventeenth Century: Donne to Butler (Hardcover)

Grierson 's 1912 essay on the Metaphysicals moved them from being an eccentricity to the center of the Literary Tradition. He saw in their use of rough direct speech, the linking together of images from diverse realms which is the metaphysical conceit, a way of making Poetry which was especially deep, complex and passionate. His understanding of the importance of the Metaphysicals was taken up by TS Eliot and they shortly were appreciated in a more profound way than they had been before.