Metaphysical poets English poetry. Colin Burrow's opinion, on the other hand, is that the term 'Metaphysical poets' still retains some value. For one thing, Donne's poetry had considerable influence on subsequent poets, who emulated his style. And there are several instances in which 17th-century poets used the word 'metaphysical' in their work, meaning that Samuel Johnson's description has some foundation in the usage of the previous century. However, the term does isolate English poets from those who shared similar stylistic traits in Europe and America. Since the 1960s, therefore, it has been argued that gathering all of these under the heading of
Samuel Humphreys (poet) Crébillon and La Fontaine. Samuel Humphreys (poet) Samuel Humphreys (c.1697–1738) was an English poet, librettist and translator. He is known for the words he wrote for Handel's oratorios "Esther" (1732), "Deborah" (1733), and "Athalia" (1733). Humphreys was an educated man, who wrote as a poet from around 1728 to 1732, a period during which he also worked for George Frideric Handel. He took up work as a translator, too. These employments followed some personal reverses. He died in Canonbury, where he had rooms, on 11 January 1738. He was buried in Islington churchyard. Humphreys was known as the author of