Question

According to Johnson, when did the Metaphysical poets emerge?

• A. Late 16th century
• B. Beginning of the 17th century
• C. Mid-17th century
• D. Early 18th century

Answer 1

Answer:

B. Beginning of the 17th century

• Johnson clearly placed their emergence at the start of the 1600s.

• John Donne is their most prominent early figure.

• This marks a shift from Elizabethan to Jacobean poetic style.