Read it through once

It has been customary to attribute to the metaphysical poets, and to Donne in particular, a certain harshness of style, a ruggedness and jaggedness of expression which is the reverse of the smoothness of the classical school. This roughness, however, is not merely accidental. It is the result of an honest attempt to discover words adequate to a new experience. The metaphysical poets were in revolt against the smooth and homogeneous diction of the Elizabethans; they sought a language which should be precise and incisive, able to deal with paradox and subtlety, with the complexities of the moral life.