Metaphysical poets of Wotton himself that prefaced the collection of Wotton's works in 1651. A life of George Herbert followed them in 1670. The links between Donne’s elegists were thus of a different order from those between Donne and his circle of friends, often no more than professional acquaintanceship. And once the poetic style had been launched, its tone and approach remained available as a model for later writers who might not necessarily commit themselves so wholly to it. Metaphysical poets The term metaphysical poets was coined by the critic Samuel Johnson to describe a loose group of 17th-century English poets whose
Richard Leigh (poet) Richard Leigh (poet) Richard Leigh (1650–1728) was an English poet of gentry stock. His work is regarded as metaphysical poetry. He engaged in a pamphlet dispute with John Dryden. He was the younger son of Sir Edward Leigh (1603–1671), of Rushall, Staffordshire (a scion of the ancient family of West Hall, High Legh, Cheshire and a cousin of the Lords Leigh), and Elizabeth Talbot (died 1707), a relative of the Earls of Shrewsbury. In 1666, aged sixteen, he entered Queen's College, Oxford. Sources rumor that, after university, Leigh left Oxford for London and became an actor in the Duke of