Happy those early days! when I
Shined in my Angel-infancy.
Before I understood this
place Appointed for my second race.
These lines have been taken from the poem entitled “The Retreat” written by Henry Vaughan. Vaughan is one of the foremost poets of the metaphysical school. He is a true disciple of John Donne. He has written this poem in praise of childhood.
The poet believes in the fact that before being born on this earth, the human soul passes a period of life in Heaven. He says that the early days of his childhood were the happiest period of his life. Those were the days when he knew none of the evils of this world, where he had come to cover the second part of his journey in Heaven before birth on this earth. Then his thoughts were pure and innocent. He had not gained the experience of this world and so his soul had not learnt to think about anything else except God. As he thought only of God and Heaven, his thoughts were pure like that of an angel.
These lines are remarkable because they express the sincere feeling of the poet in passionate language.
When yet I had not walked above
A mile or two from my first love,
And looking back, at that short space,
Could see a glimpse of His bright face;
When on some gilded cloud, or flower
My gazing soul would dwell an hour,
And in those weaker glories spy
Some shadows of eternity.
These lines have been taken from the poem entitled The Retreat written by Henry Vaughan. Vaughan belongs to the romantic school of poetry. Here, he expresses his idea that in childhood man is nearer to Heaven, and gets occasional glimpses of God.
The view contained in these lines is based on the belief that man’s life on this earth is not the first of his existence. He lived in Heaven before birth on this earth and the life on this earth represents a journey from Heaven. The distance from birth to childhood, which is the distance from Heaven to childhood, is not much. While residing in Heaven, human soul has no attraction for anything else except God. Therefore, God is his first love. When human soul comes over to this world, it brings with it the love of God. As the distance from Heaven to childhood is short, man can easily look behind and catch a glimpse of the bright face of God. In support of it the poet says that when at times he looked steadfastly at the golden clouds and beautiful flowers, although they were far less radiant and glorious as compared to Heavenly objects, still he noticed in them some reflections of God.
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These lines are representative of Henry Vaughan. They express his inmost desire to recapture the spirit of childhood. The language is metaphysical in the accepted sense of the term.
Before I taught my tongue to wound
My conscience with a sinful sound,
Or had the black art to dispense
A several sin to every sense,
But felt through all this fleshly dress
Bright shoots of everlastingness.
These lines have been taken from the poem entitled The Retreat written by Henry Vaughan. Vaughan was a religious poet of the metaphysical school. Here, he points out the difference between childhood and advanced age.
As the poet puts it, a child has no need to tell lies. A child does not indulge in sins. But as man grows up, he learns to deceive his conscience by telling lies and by calling right what is wrong. Gradually, a man learns how to employ his various senses in sinful acts. He utters filthy language and lies with his tongue, looks at lustful sights with his eyes and commits murder, loot, rape etc, with his other limbs. In this way he commits sin with all his limbs. The poet says that before he had learnt this black art he had something divine in him. Although the ordinary body hinders attainment of spiritual ends, in childhood the poet felt some glow of immortality even though possessing a body of flesh and blood.
These lines are important because they reflect the highly imaginative mind of Vaughan. The style is what Coleridge calls “neutral”.
O, how I long to travel back,
And tread again that ancient track!
That I might once more reach that plain
Where first I left my glorious train,
From whence th’ enlightened spirit sees
That shady city of palm trees.
These lines form part of the poem entitled The Retreat written by Henry Vaughan. Vaughan belonged to the metaphysical school of poetry. Here, he expresses his desire to return back to childhood.
The poet has come a long way from childhood passing through youth and manhood. He wants to travel back to the plain of childhood through the same old path. His object in doing so is to regain the company of those guardian angels who kept watch over him during his childhood. The Bible says that the child lies in Abraham’s bosom. Vaughan has borrowed this idea from the Bible. His other object is to catch once again the vision of Heaven-the shady city of palm trees. The vision of Heaven can be had only by those who have enlightened spirit. As a child lives near god, it gets something of his divine glow. Hence, a child can easily have a vision of Heaven.
These lines are typical of Vaughan. Though the idea is commonplace. the treatment is quite original.
But ah! my soul with too much stay
Is drunk, and staggers in the way.
Or,
Some men a forward motion love,
But I by backward steps would move,
And when this dust falls to the urn,
In that state I came, return.
These are the concluding lines of the poem entitled The Retreat written by Henry Vaughan.-Vaughan is an important poet in the realm of metaphysical poetry. Here, Vaughan expresses his inmost desire to return back to childhood. But he feels difficulty in doing so. He had advanced much in years and picked up many evils of this world. His brain has become intoxicated with the vanities of this world. Now his fancies do not consist of celestial thought. He no longer sees the vision of God. Under the influence of worldly intoxication, he cannot move with firm steps on the path leading to the place of childhood. Yet, unlike other men, he still wants to trace his steps back. While common people want to gain more and more experience of the world, the poet wants to get rid of the experience gained by him and to go back to the angel-infancy. His ardent desire is to return after death in the same state of purity and innocence in which he took birth on this earth. He wants to shed all the grossness of this material world here, before departing for Heaven.
These lines are remarkable because they express the sincere feelings of the poet in simple, sensuous and passionate language.
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