From Donne to Dryden: The Revolt against Metaphysical Poetry

The intense and concentrated revolution in poetic taste in seventeenth-century England is traced from Donnes idiom--subtle, complex, and shot through with unconventional moods--to the idiom of Dryden, which follows the taste for clarity, harmony, and propriety. More than poetry is involved in this revolt. The cultural and intellectual forces of the century made a change in taste inevitable by altering mans way of looking at himself and his world.

Originally published in 1940.

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