GENDER AND VOICE IN SEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ENGLISH POETRY: FROM METAPHYSICAL TO POLITICAL EXPRESSION
Keywords:
seventeenth-century poetry, metaphysical poets, gender, voice, political expression, early modern literature, Aphra Behn, John DonneAbstract
This study explores the shifting constructions of gender and poetic voice in seventeenth-century English poetry, tracing a trajectory from the introspective metaphysical mode to the explicitly political verse of the later century. The study examines how poets such as John Donne, Andrew Marvell, Katherine Philips and Aphra Behn navigate questions of authority, embodiment and voice within the constraints of early modern gender ideology. Metaphysical poets redefined the lyric self through intellectualized expressions of love and faith, often reinforcing or subverting gender binaries through conceit and wit. By contrast, the political turbulence of the mid and late seventeenth century Civil War, Interregnum and Restoration reconfigured poetic subjectivity, allowing female and marginalized voices to assert new forms of agency. Through close readings of selected poems, the paper argues that the evolution from metaphysical introspection to political engagement reveals not only changing aesthetic priorities but also the emergence of gendered consciousness as a central dimension of poetic identity.
