“Exploring the Essence of ‘Carpe Diem’: Unveiling Passion and Fulfillment in Metaphysical Poetry

Carpe Dieme is a style of poetry formulated during the English civil war. Literally Carpe Diem means, Seize the Day. It describes the passion of society and how their mentality on fulfillment of their lives. Metaphysical poetry was popularized after this, when the people started using science to explain what previous beliefs had based on religion. Song, Holy Sonnet 10, and To His Coy Mistress, all give a different but clear picture of what metaphysical and Carpe Dieme poems are, though not all of them depict both elements.

First of all, Holy Sonnet 10 is an excellent presentation of a Carpe Dieme and of the thought process behind the ideas of it. Holy Sonnet 10 represents a so-called obsession with death that the people living in the time frame acquired. They represented their feelings and suppressed lives with their poetry. The lifestyle of a person living during a civil war is an intense day-by-day struggle to live. Every second there is a chance that you will not live to see the next day. This inspired the authors to fill their poems with passion and a spontaneous attitude. Their attitude was not only spontaneous, but also fulfilling to their own personal nature. Carpe Dieme was the reaction to the general populations life p decreasing.

Second of all, To His Coy Mistress, is another Carpe Dieme poem. It shows the time diminishing in the populous. As most other Carpe Dieme poems, To His Coy Mistress, deals with the fulfillment of ones dreams and the taking over of ones life. This poem relates to a recent movie that was just released, American Beauty. In the movie the husband gets sick of sitting around and waiting for his own death. So he takes control of his life and does what makes him happy, and with little dismay, he was killed. He died happy and fulfilled, just like what the man in To His Coy Mistress is trying to say. He wants to experience the pleasures of life before his time comes and Worms will get her virginity.

Last of all, Song, by John Dunne, portrays both of these elements of mental status. A strong indication of, Song, relating to Carpe Dieme and Metaphysical poetry are the techniques and devices used within them. Metaphysical conceits are a readily used device found in Metaphysical poems. A Metaphysical Conceit is an ingenious and unusual comparison.

A paradox is a strong statement that contradicts itself, but in sense brings light to stimulate the imagination by the use of intellect. But think that we, Are but turned aside to sleep, they who one another keep, Alive but parted be. Dunne infers that they will die, but nothing could separate a love as strong as theirs; so will fall asleep resting on each other, together forever. This is a very creative and ingenious line because it gives extremely vague references, but at the same time gets the feeling off extremely well. This leads for the reader to imagine what he gets from the poem, broadening the poems horizons further than the author could have ever written literally. Song, can also be looked at as being a Carpe Dieme poem also. The First Stanza picked apart gives the sense that life is not long, dont think bad thoughts, and keep focused on the good, because you never know when you will die. In turn showing the same poem as a Metaphysical and Carpe Dieme with a conjoined approach to stimulate the reader and get across the authors feelings.

As Metaphysical and Carpe Dieme poems are sometimes used together in such ways as Song, by John Dunne, they can also be picked apart as separate and intricate poems by themselves. Metaphysical conceits and paradoxes bring the life and character out, influenced by the reader and his intellect; so as Carpe Dieme poems bring out the full-blossomed lives that were lived to the fullest degree possible. Both poem writing styles were unique and rebellious to their time frames, and created the opening for a more open minded population that would lead to many more discoveries and innovations which would not have been possible without the poets creativity and outpouring of feeling.

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“Exploring the Essence of ‘Carpe Diem’: Unveiling Passion and Fulfillment in Metaphysical Poetry. (2023, Jun 22). Retrieved from https://phdessay.com/exploring-the-essence-of-carpe-diem-unveiling-passion-and-fulfillment-in-metaphysical-poetry/

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