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Article

Open Access

From a Preeminent Metaphysical Poet to a Half-orphan Poet: Mis/representation of John Donne as a Full-blown Metaphysical Poet

Author(s)

Eugene Ngezem

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DOI:10.17265/2159-5313/2025.06.004

Affiliation(s)

Clayton State University, Morrow, GA, USA

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this article is to depart from the conventional belief that John Donne, a vibrant 17th-century writer, is a full-blown metaphysical poet as widely claimed while also acknowledging the poetic ingenuity of John Donne. While Donne’s poetry is rich in matter and manner, and his poems are caked in wit, intellectual superiority, and apt exploration of telling themes, dressing him fully in borrowed robes seems a stretch. Some of Donne’s poems, without a shred of doubt, contain flavors of metaphysical poetry, but the term “metaphysical” seems to be unsuitable for poems such as “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”.

KEYWORDS

metaphysical, metaphysics, mis/representation, exaggeration, half-orphan, full-blown, half-baked, ingenuity

Cite this paper

Eugene Ngezem. (2025). From a Preeminent Metaphysical Poet to a Half-orphan Poet: Mis/representation of John Donne as a Full-blown Metaphysical Poet. Philosophy Study, Nov.-Dec. 2025, Vol. 15, No. 6, 369-372.

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