The Metaphysical Poets were a loose group of 17th-century English poets associated with sharp argument, learned references, and unexpected comparisons, often called conceits. Their poems mix thought and feeling in surprising ways, using wit, irony, and intellectual tension rather than smooth lyric ease. The label is a later critical term, not a school the poets themselves formed.
Writers commonly linked to the group include John Donne, George Herbert, Andrew Marvell, Henry Vaughan, Thomas Traherne, Richard Crashaw, and sometimes Abraham Cowley.
Example
Love is a compass needle, restless and true,
A thread of fire that pulls my heart toward you;
Though oceans separate the shore from shore,
One thought of you unhooks the world once more.