John Donne, one of the infamous Metaphysical Poets, is known to some only by random quotes such as "for whom the bell tolls" or "no man is an island", but to others he is as important a writer as Shakespeare and thus has been valued as such in many forms. However John Donnes popularity is not universal and although he may be well known, he is not necessarily well liked.
The origin of the term "Metaphysical Poets" can be accredited to two main men. John Dryden was the first to use the term when he criticized Donne by saying "He affects the metaphysics in his amorous verses, where nature should only reign; and perplexes the minds of the fair sex with nice speculations of philosophy, when he should engage their hearts. Dryden disapproved of Donne's stylistic excess, particularly his extravagant conceits (or witty comparisons) and his tendency towards hyperbolic abstractions. Samuel Johnson consolidated the phrase in 1779 in his critical writings "Lives of the Poets" when he noted "about the beginning of the 17th century appeared a race of writers that may be termed the metaphysical poets". Johnson went on to describe the far-fetched nature of their comparisons as "a combination of dissimilar images, or discovery of occult resemblances in things apparently unlike". Now the characteristics of metaphysical poetry are not easily defined, but universal similarities between the poets are noticeable. The main features of metaphysical poetry are certainly passion in the writing, the poems are generally very lyrical and of course, particularly in Donne's poetry, they are very witty.
In the early to mid 19th century, Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote some rather subjective critical notes on the metaphysical poets and in particular Donne's poetry. He says "to read (the metaphysical poetry) you need only count syllables, but to read Donne you must measure time, and discover the time of each word by the sense of passion".
