Metaphysical QuizBy Ronald Hadrian / August 10, 2025 Metaphysical Poets Quiz Quiz on Metaphysical Poets Please enter your name to begin. Start Quiz Quiz on Metaphysical Poets 1. Who is most notably credited in the sources with first employing or coining the term “Metaphysical Poets” to describe a group of writers including John Donne? A) T.S. Eliot B) John Dryden C) Samuel Johnson D) Herbert J.C. Grierson 2. According to T.S. Eliot’s theory of “dissociation of sensibility,” what significant change occurred in English poetry during the 17th century? A) Poets began to incorporate more scientific and philosophical ideas into their work. B) There was a separation between intellectual thought and the experience of feeling. C) Poetic language became simpler and more accessible to the common reader. D) Poets focused more on personal emotion and less on objective observation. 3. Which of the following is NOT presented as a characteristic of “metaphysical poetry” in the sources, particularly in Eliot’s analysis? A) The elaboration of a figure of speech to the furthest stage ingenuity can carry it. B) The use of “telescoping of images and multiplied associations”. C) A “direct sensuous apprehension of thought, or a recreation of thought into feeling”. D) An over-reliance on simple, easily grasped metaphors and similes, with simple sentence structures. 4. T.S. Eliot believed that John Donne’s poetry was particularly significant because: A) It strictly adhered to traditional Renaissance poetic forms and themes. B) It achieved a unique synthesis of mind and emotion, where “a thought… was an experience; it modified his sensibility.” C) It exclusively used imagery from everyday life, making it universally accessible. D) It rejected all philosophical thought in favor of pure emotional expression. 5. According to T.S. Eliot, what was the primary effect of the influence of John Milton and John Dryden on English poetry? A) The language became more refined, but the feeling (sensibility) became more crude. B) They pioneered the use of highly elaborate conceits and complex sentence structures. C) They successfully reversed the “dissociation of sensibility” that had set in. D) Their poetry became a direct continuation of the Elizabethan tradition, unifying sensibility. Submit Answers