The metaphysical poets were a group of 17th-century English poets who all had similar general styles and ideas that they were expressing. They often wrote in a more conversational style, used intellectual ideas, and inventive expressions of language. The poets who have been put under this label did not create the term themselves. Instead, it was Samuel Johnson who would coin the term long after the metaphysical poet era had come to an end. For this reason, it was a term created in retrospect. John Donne would remain one of the best-known 17th-century English writers thanks to his work.