Seventeenth Century
...ourt. Their poetry was innovative and original. The cavaliers were courtiers and soldiers whose lyric poetry often expressed an attitude of “carpe diem.” Rhymed poetry dominated the literary scene. Metaphysical poetry centered on extended metaphors called conceits, which were used by Herbert and Herrick. Both types of poetry are lyrical, personal, and universal in expressions of aspects of love, death, and honor. “The Fall of Satan,” from Paradise Lost, by John Milton, was one of the most brilliant achievements in English poetry. His purpose in writing this was to answer the question of why God permits his human creations to suffer and die, to “justify the ways of God to men.” He wanted to write an epic that was equal to Homer’s epics. All of the narratives in this poem are drawn from t...