What do you understand by the term "Metaphysical" as applied to John Donne?

The term and application of the term "metaphysical" in
poetry and literature refers to the exploration and extrapolation of themes that cannot
otherwise be explained but through self contemplation, observation, and the analysis of
life, its patterns, and its connection to the higher realm of
spirituality.

John Donne belongs to a generation of 17th
century poets whose commentary of life is based on such exploration. It is not the
allegory to life and its consequences, but the appeal to the higher, spiritual,
misunderstood, and mysterious characteristics of one's
existence.

In not so many words, metaphysical refers not
only to the world which is above the physical, but also to the analysis of the
connection between the two.