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metaphysical poets

(Encyclopedia)metaphysical poets, name given to a group of English lyric poets of the 17th cent. The term was first used by Samuel Johnson (1744). The hallmark of their poetry is the metaphysical conceit (a figure ...

Cavalier poets

(Encyclopedia)Cavalier poets, a group of English poets associated with Charles I and his exiled son. Most of their work was done between c.1637 and 1660. Their poetry embodied the life and culture of upper-class, p...

conceit

(Encyclopedia)conceit, in literature, fanciful or unusual image in which apparently dissimilar things are shown to have a relationship. The Elizabethan poets were fond of Petrarchan conceits, which were conventiona...

Herbert, George

(Encyclopedia)Herbert, George, 1593–1633, one of the English metaphysical poets. Of noble family, he was the brother of Baron Herbert of Cherbury. He was graduated from Cambridge. His early determination to enter...

Carew, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Carew, Thomas, 1595?–1639?, English author, one of the Cavalier poets. Educated at Merton College, Oxford, he had a short diplomatic career on the Continent, then returned to England and became a fa...

Cowley, Abraham

(Encyclopedia)Cowley, Abraham ko͞oˈlē, kouˈ– [key], 1618–67, one of the English metaphysical poets. He published his first volume of verse, Poetical Blossoms (1633), when he was 15. While a student at Cambr...

Taylor, Edward

(Encyclopedia)Taylor, Edward, c.1642–1729, American poet and clergyman, b. England, considered America's foremost colonial poet. He immigrated to America in 1668 and graduated from Harvard in 1671. From then unti...

Traherne, Thomas

(Encyclopedia)Traherne, Thomas trəhûrnˈ [key], 1636?–1674, English poet and prose writer, one of the metaphysical poets. He was schooled at Brasenose College, Oxford, and was chaplain to the Lord Keeper from 1...

Crashaw, Richard

(Encyclopedia)Crashaw, Richard krăshˈô [key], 1612?–1649, one of the English metaphysical poets. He was graduated from Cambridge in 1634 and remained there as a fellow at Peterhouse until the Puritan uprising,...

Marvell, Andrew

(Encyclopedia)Marvell, Andrew märˈvəl [key], 1621–78, one of the English metaphysical poets. Educated at Cambridge, he worked as a clerk, traveled abroad, and returned to serve as tutor to Lord Fairfax's daugh...