The Baroque Presentation Of Body In Metaphysical Poetry

One inescapable fact of human existence is that it is experienced in a body. In western culture, body is a very complicated item related to religion and mythology, ethics and social life, power and politics. In traditional western culture and ideology, body and soul are usually divided into two, and in early Renaissance, the view of body was permeated with humanism and harmony. However, when it came to the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century, i.e. what the critics called the "Baroque Age", it became an age thrilled with religious ecstasy and passion. In this chaotic society, man trapped in contradictions where the humanity met divinity, and ideal met reality. Based on this new dynamic cosmology, new views of body were as well practiced into aesthetic and artistic fields, thus formed a unique style called baroque. With all those "upsetting explorations" of baroque style, the poets were far beyond satisfied to use the outmoded way to express themselves; instead, they used their imagination, creation, and grotesque rhetoric to present human body, these kinds of "explorations" appeared in Metaphysical poetry as Donne's shroud and the dance of worms in Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress". In order to escape the irreconcilable contradiction, the poets tried to construct their view of body in two extremes-on the one hand they turned to mythological and Christian tradition to obey the doctrines and principles, and tried to show their piety to God through asceticism; on the other hand, they desperately felt that life was short, and only by having sensuous pleasure and erotic love can they seize the day and get rid of the contradictive state of mind. So this thesis tries to discuss the significance of body narrative in Metaphysical poetry, especially that of John Donne, Andrew Marvell, Richard Crashaw, and George Herbert's, from the perspective of cultural studies, and indicates that, as an essential cultural item, the image of baroque body in Metaphysical poetry is a deviation to traditional harmonious view of body in Renaissance, and its emphasis of motion and tension plays the role of a mirror in that age.The first Chapter introduces the relationship between body and the baroque sensibility in Metaphysical poetry within the social background of baroque era. Chapter Two, "Body in Religious Passion", explores in detail the Metaphysical poets'use of body imagery in their poetry devoted to temperance, religious passion and the contradictive state to which spiritual belief is made subject to discipline.Chapter Three investigates how the Metaphysical poets use the vocabulary of corporeal emotion to underscore their sensuous desire. This part aims to analyse the profane body, the erotic images of body and the links between temptation and contemplation, and to explore the spiritual, cultural and social connotation that these images carry.Chapter Four concentrates on the Baroque rhetoric in Metaphysical poetry. It demonstrates how the Metaphysical poets use these rhetorical skills to present baroque body. The final chapter synthesizes the Metaphysical poets' engagement with issues of self-regulation, struggle and retreat, and thus explores the poetics of body narrative in this special period of time they live through.