Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses Graduate School 1961 Selected Poems of Henry Vaughan, Arranged Chronologically, With an Introduction, Critical Commentary, and Explanatory Notes. James Dudley Simmonds Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses Recommended Citation Simmonds, James Dudley, "Selected Poems of Henry Vaughan, Arranged Chronologically, With an Introduction, Critical Commentary, and Explanatory Notes." (1961). LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses. 716. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_disstheses/716 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Historical Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This dissertation has been 62-1236 microfilmed exactly as received SIMMONDS, James Dudley, 1933- SELECTED POEMS OF HENRY VAUGHAN, ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY, WITH AN INTRODUCTION, CRITICAL COMMENTARY, AND EXPLANATORY NOTES. Louisiana State University, Ph.D., 1961 Language and Literature, modern University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan SELECTED POEMS OF HEMRI VAUGHAN ARRANGED CHRONOLOGICALLY, WITH AH INTRODUCTION, CRITICAL COMMENTARY, AND EXPLANATORY NOTES A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in martial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in The Department of English James D* Simmonds M. A., Melbourne University, 1958 August, 1961 PREFACE The present study had its inception in 1957 when, dismayed hy the absence in critical writing on Vaughan of any concerted effort to discriminate the great frow the mood and the good from the medi­ ocre or worse, I conceived the idea of nutting together what seemed best in his poetry and of sunporting thi s choice by means of a conscientious analysis of each selection. I was encouraged to oer- sist with the project by the enthusiastic resnon.se initially ac­ corded it by Hr. S. L. Goldberg of the University of Melbourne and his colleague Mr, W. A. G, Scott, now Professor of English at Monash University. The task of interpreting and evaluating secular poems has been enormously lightened by the apooarance of Professor E. L. M arilla's thoroughly annotated edition, The Secular Poems of Henry Vaughan (Uppsala: Lundeouistska Bokhandeln; 1958), which has been of inestimable value in my treatment of the secular pieces in­ cluded here. Projected discussions of four major religious roerns have been largely anticipated by Professor E. C, Pettet, whose Of Paradise and Light (Cambridge: At the University Press,960 i ) represents a significant attempt to treat Vaughan's sacred verse as literature. Important precursors of his study are E. L. M arilla's "The Secular and Religious Poetry of Henry Vaughan," MLQ, IX (De­ cember, 19*fS) , 39^11, and Professor Frank Kermode's "The Private Imagery of Henry Vaughan," RES, New Series I (July, 1950), 206-225* But the undertaking of the present study seems sufficiently vindi­ cated by the fact that in the case of only one poem, "The Night," have I had to confess that my projected analysis has in effect been completely forestalled by the discussions of previous commen- P + A T ' O t U V V 4 *-» a This volume is in no sense an edition, and the reader should not take the inclusion of a substantial proportion of Vaughan's poems as implying assertion of a claim to novelty or independent authori­ ty in the text. In this portion of the study I am. to be credited with no more than the exercise of critical .judgment involved in making a selection (though this, of course, has been guided to some extent by the canons of general taste exemplified in numerous an­ thologies), and with the risky combination of inference and con­ jecture required by the attempt to achieve a chronological arrange­ ment (see "Note on the Chronology," below). The poems are included solely for the reader’s convenience, and since the text of Vaughan's work seems to be now satisfactorily established, I have used the most authoritative texts available—of the secular poems, that in E. L. M arilla's edition mentioned above, and of the religious poems, that in Professor L. C, Martin's second edition of his well known The Works of Henry Vaughan (Oxford: At the Clarendon Press, 1957). Both volumes are indispensable aids in the study of Vaughan, and, anticipating that they w ill be the close companions of anyone using this selection, I have in general refrained from duplicating the editors' valuable notes unless the matter has substantial sig­ nificance for my immediate argument or unless I have something to iii add to them which w ill scarcely be comprehensible without their prior quotation or summary. The main purpose of my own notes is to provide the minimum information necessary for a basic reading of th e poems. It is conventional practice for selectors to apologize for the fallibility of human judgment by pointing to the obvious unlikeli­ hood of their choice's meeting with universal approval. The present selection, of course, incorporates no formula likely to protect it from this professional hazard. It is obvious that in making choices and especially in the mournful task of reconciling those choices with inevitable restrictions of soace, time, and labor, the se­ lector will be guided to some extent by personal tastes and prefer­ ences, Therefore I make no claim to include here all of Vaughan's best poetry. For one thing, I include only whole poems, thinking it a more valid proceeding to base a critical estimate of Vaughan on poems which exemplify the fundamental requisite of unity than to excerpt others for the sake of a few oumle passages which, though admirable in isolation, bear little congruence to their poetic contexts. This principle lias excluded several religious poems which, because of their recrudescent beauties of phrase or image, have received much favorable notice from other commentators —e. g. , "Distraction," "The Dawning," "The Bird," "The Timber," "Childe-hood," "L1Envoy." My commitment to the reader can therefore be comparatively simple: to have included only such poems as can be defended as inherently valuable artistic works according to generally understood and accepted principles of poetic excellence. Let me emphasize that I do not believe that as strong a case as iv can be made for these selections could not likewise be made for many poems which the considerations already mentioned have vari­ ous].:,'- impelled me to exclude--e. p., "To Amoret, of the difference . "To th e R iver I s c a , 11 "Monsieur Oonbauld, 11 "To th e b e s t, and most accomplish'd Couple—— "The Earle," "To Etesia (for Timander,) the first Sigh t," "Isaacs Marriage," "Peace," "The Re­ solve," "Easter-day"Ascension-Hymn," "The Garland," "Begging," "The Daughter of Heredias,11 "Tears," "looking back." Lexington, Kentucky J• B • S, July ?, 1961 ACKNOTLEDGMTS My thanks are due to the respective editors and publishers for graciously rem itting my use of materials in L. 1. Martin's The forks of Henry Vaughan and in 3, L, M arilla's The Secular Poems of Henry Vaughan. My greatest single debt in this work is to Professor E, L. Manilla of Louisiana State University who, during our association in the oast three years, has fostered all my scholarly pursuits through warn oersonal interest and perceptive advice. It was through our conversations on Vaughan that the format of this volume mainly took shape, and during r.y work on it he has assisted me con­ tinuously by carefully reading over the manuscript, catching some mistakes and malcing many valuable sty listic improvements, I am similarly indebted to Professor V/. J. Olive and Dr. L. A. Sasek, both of Louisiana State University, who have helped by subjecting the manuscript to further close scrutiny. My thanks are due like­ wise to the staff of the Margaret I. King Library, University of Kentucky, who have been most helpful and co-operative in making books available, and to Miss Martha Grange, Secretary in the English Department, University of Kentucky, who has enabled me to progress faster by kindly typing the manuscripts of various articles and notes which cropped up during the execution of this project. TABIE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. x i i i SELECTED POEMS An Elegy ...... • i • 2 FIDA: Or The C ountry-beauty: to Lysimachus • * • 2 The Character, to Etesia a * • 4 To Etesia m rted from him, and looking back a a a 5 Etesia absent ..... a a • 5 A Rhapsodis ..... • * * 6 To Lysimachus, the Author being with him in London . 7 To Amoret. The Sigh .... a a a 8 To Amoret, Walking in a Starry Evening . a a « 9 To Amoret gone from him . « i *10 A Song to Amoret .... 10 To Amoret xreeping .... • • •11 UPON THE PRIORIE GROVE, H is u s u a ll Retyrem ent. 12 The Charnel-house .... * t •13 To his friend------ . • • •14 To his retired friend, an Invitation to Brecknock . 16 Uoon a Cloke lent him by Mr. J. Ridsley a a t18 The King Disguis'd .... 10 To his Learned Friend and Loyal Fellow-Prisoner, Thomas Powel of Cant. Doctor of Divinity . • • •21 The imoortunate Fortune, written to Doctor Powel of Centre . ... 22 To rw worthy friend Master T. Lewes . * ♦ •2k Regeneration ..... • « •25 Death. A Dialogue .... • • •26 R elig io n ...... * ♦ a2? The B rittish Church .... 29 The Lampe ...... * * *29 The Showre. ..... a a •30 The Pursuits ..... • t t31 Mount of Olives ..... • • •31 The Incarnation, and Passion a a •32 Vanity of Spirit. .... a a a32 The Retreate ..... • a *33 /Joy of my life! while left me here/ • * a34 The Storm .....