Life of cowley by Ghaffar

 Abraham Cowley (pronounced Cooley) was born in London, the posthumous son of a wealthy London stationer.   He was educated at Westminster School and at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took his BA in 1639, was made fellow in 1640, and became MA in 1643.   Cowley published his first volume of verse, Poetical Blossoms (1633), when he was 15.   The collection consisted of five poems, one of which Cowley had written at age 10.  He wrote a pastoral drama and a Latin comedy, Naufragium Ioculare (1638), when he was but 20.�

1. Life of Cowley by Dr Samuel Johnson Presenter: Abdul Ghaffar BS English 4 th year…….Usindh Laar Campus Badin

2. Abraham Cowley 1618-1667  Abraham Cowley (pronounced  Cooley ) was born in London, the posthumous son of a wealthy London stationer.   He was educated at  Westminster School  and at  Trinity College , Cambridge, where he took his BA in 1639, was made fellow in 1640, and became MA in 1643.   Cowley published his first volume of verse,  Poetical Blossoms  (1633), when he was 15.   The collection consisted of five poems, one of which Cowley had written at age 10.  He wrote a pastoral drama and a Latin comedy,  Naufragium Ioculare  (1638), when he was but 20.

3.  During the English Civil War, the Parliamentary party deprived Cowley of his fellowship, but he had already left Cambridge to join  King Charles  at Oxford and, in 1644, followed  Queen Henrietta Maria  to France as her secretary.  His first collection of verse,  The Mistress :  or, Several Copies of Love Verses  was published in 1647.

4. Johnson, accuses them of being a bunch of showing off versifiers rather than true poets whose verses are mere celebration of their extreme knowledge of the world and scientific studies. In fact, Johnson and his contemporaries did not use the term “metaphysical” equal to “spiritual” or in opposition to “physical”; it rather connotes the philosophical and scientific aspect of the poetry rich with strange conceits such as compasses, ether, etc

5. Johnson condemns these poets of being too much concerned with rhyme. Poetry, he believes, is what engages men’s hearts and opens up their eyes to the “softness of love” as in the poetry of Shakespeare and Milton.

6. M imetic and Pragmatic Johnson then attacks the poetry from two different angles: mimetic and pragmatic . The Metaphysical’s first failure, according to Johnson, could be found out through Aristotle’s criteria for true poetry – as imitative art: Metaphysical poetry is far from truth by copying neither “nature” nor “life”. He then approaches the poetry from another angle and that is its failure to affect the reader the way true poetry does.

7. Metaphysical poetry, though admirable, is not able to please the reader as a harmonious, unified, and beautiful piece of poetry, soothing the minds of the readers. In order to prove so, he questions the central anchor of Metaphysical poetry, namely “wit”: He first confirms that the true value of their poetry only lies in the merit and extent of their wit. . According to Pope, wit is what “has been often thought, but was never before so well expressed Based on this definition, Metaphysical poets have failed to such wit, since they “just tried to get singular thought, and were careless of diction”, and language.

8. Johnson provides a new concept of ‘wit’, as being “at once natural and new”. Thus Metaphysical thoughts “are often new, but seldom natural”. In fact the unnaturalness of their poetry is what makes them unpleasing to the mind of the reader. further to define their wit as an example of discordia concors ; “a combination of dissimilar images, or discovery of occult resemblances in things apparently unlike”. He decries their roughness and violation of decorum, the deliberate mixture of different styles, this kind of wit they have “more than enough”.  

9. Johnson may seem to condemn the pragmatic failure of metaphysical poetry as “not successful in representing or moving the affections”, but is actually leaving the ground for the values of their poetry but providing subjective definitions for pragmatic and mimetic values of true poetry:

10. Apart from finding a kind of ‘truth’ in their poetry, he also confirms a number of valuable features in their poetry such as “acuteness”, “powers of reflection and comparison”, “genuine wit”, “useful knowledge”, and finally “more propriety though less copiousness of sentiment ”. Johnson’s view of Metaphysical poets, though not totally confirming, proved to be fair and influenced by his own era’s literary canon – which valued imitativeness and unity over fragmentation and metaphysical expressions.

11. Main feature of metaphysical poetry Wit or conceit is commonly used, but wit or conceit is so odd that reader ususally loses sight of thing to be illustrated The them : is peculiar is not decorated by conventional comparison. Instead it is illuminated or emphasized by fantastic metaphor and extravagant hyperbole Sensuality is blended with philosophy, passion with intellect and contrives are ever moving one into other Complex rhythms are used