Metaphysicals

King Charles I was a spendthrift and a conniver who angered Parliament with his unauthorized programs of taxation and his secret deals with other countries. They thought he harbored Catholic sympathies as well, and in 1626 the largely Puritan legislators refused to fund his government any further. Over the next twenty-five years, Charles tried to rule England alone while Parliament, led by Oliver Cromwell, fought to regain control through political and sometimes military actions. In that civil war, poets, too, took sides. The Cavalier Poets were loyal to the king. They were Catholic, boisterous, and rich; court bureaucrats who had won the favor of young King James. On the other side were the Metaphysical poets—-Donne, Milton, Marvell, Herbert, Vaughan, and others. They were Protestant, interested in science, theology, satire, and to a lesser degree, love.

Immortal Poets: Their Lives and Verse, by Christopher Burns