Metaphysical Wit

This 1992 book seeks the reason for the central importance of wit in the thinking of the metaphysical poets.

List of contents

Preface; Acknowledgements; 1. Drastic devices; 2. Mirror of creation; 3. Courtly conceits; 4. Intelligible images; 5. Arts of ingenuity; 6. Metaphorical wit; 7. Metaphysical wit; 8. Sacred earth; Notes; Index.

About the author

A. J. Smith is Associate Pastor for Worship and Administration at Seven Springs Baptist Church, Calera, Alabama, and an Adjunct Professor of Church History for Liberty Theological Seminary's Distance Learning Program. He taught at Simmons College of Kentucky from 2004 to 2006 and has spoken before professional societies on Baptist history, systematic theology, and patristic theology. He has authored an article that appears in the new Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary.

Summary

English metaphysical poetry, from Donne to Marvell, is notoriously witty. In this 1992 book, A. J. Smith seeks the reason for the central importance of wit in the thinking of the metaphysical poets and argues that metaphysical wit is essentially different from other modes of wit current in Renaissance Europe.

Product details

• Authors: A J Smith, A. J. Smith
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 30.11.2011
• EAN: 9780521340274
• ISBN: 978-0-521-34027-4
• No. of pages: 284
• Dimensions: 145 mm x 222 mm x 20 mm
• Weight: 535 g
• Subjects: Fiction > Poetry, drama; Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies