“The Retreat” by Henry Vaughan
“The Retreat” by Henry Vaughan has a close connection with the era of romanticism, reminding the audience of William Wordsworth and Thomas Hood amongst others through its yearning vision of early days as a time of spiritual wholeness, happiness and guiltlessness.
Influence of George Herbert
Much of Vaughan’s work is influenced by poet George Herbert. Vaughan is regarded as a metaphysical poet using extended metaphors to examine multifaceted religious, philosophical and psychological ideas. Henry Vaughan was born in 1621 in Newton-upon-Usk, studied at Jesus College in Oxford and he is popularly known for the 1650 collection Silex Scintillans. This paper strives to analyze the text which is embedded in loss of heavenly innocence experienced during early days as a child or infant, and a strong yearning to regain this lost state of “angel infancy (Vaughan, p.52, line 2).” The paper achieves this objective through exploring Vaughan’s application of language and imagery.
The Dual Meaning of “Retreat”
The text concentrates mainly on the dual meaning of the word, ‘retreat’; the word can be interpreted as the act of withdrawal as well as a place of refuge. The poem interchangeably uses both meanings to show the subject’s spirited wish to withdraw from the mortal world full of sins and ultimate desire to seek refuge in the life of childhood. The text presents childhood as a happier place, a life of bliss of innocence which has been lost by an adult subject. Mortal life is shown as the “Appointed for my second race (Vaughan, p.52, line 4)”, attempting to suggest that life on the world follows on from the heavenly living experienced before the birth. Based on what the celestial life used to teach the subject, the teachings of the mortal life make it harder for the subject to wish to continue living in this world.
Connection with God through Childhood
The speaker indicates that an individual is closest to God during the years of childhood. These are the years of ultimate innocence where an individual’s mind has not been corrupted by evils devilling the mortal world. The connection with God is closer but as one develops, it becomes more tenuous and the separation widens. As an individual becomes more knowledgeable, so is his mind polluted from the celestial thoughts he once enjoyed, thus losing fundamental connection with God. Since an individual is unable to restore this connection, he only lives with a mere desire to go back to infancy. “O, how I long to travel back (Vaughan, p.52, line 21).” A person is condemned to this situation by the choices they made which makes them succumb to temptations and ultimately to sin. By the time when someone becomes a mature adult, the separation has already become an uncrossable chasm and the connection is non-existent. Consequently, just like the speaker, in the end, such a person is unhappy with themselves for letting the world-bound desires get in the way of more spiritual things.
Elements of Poetry in “The Retreat”
The speaker delivers the message through applying varying elements of poetry to help the audience connect and understand the message. In “The Retreat,” the speaker deploys rhyming in more than 85% of the whole text. This technique enables the text to identify with English sonnet whereby couplets end with the same letter rhyme. Rhyming enables the audience to recite with the speaker and give predictable pleasure to the reader. For instance, in rhyming “flower (Vaughan, p.52, line 11)” with “hour (Vaughan, p.52, line 12),” the speaker reminds the audience that everyone has their moment under the sun. There is a moment (hour) to rise and shine like a flower and there is also that moment (hour) for an individual to wither like a flower and fade from the world. The childhood represents that hour where individuals shine innocently without any guilt while adulthood is portrayed as that hour of withering where individuals live lives of sins and guiltiness.
Use of Imagery
Another device which is repeatedly applied in “The Retreat” is the use of imagery specifically the metaphors aiming at creating certain imagination in the minds of the audience to visualize what the speaker attempts to mean. The technique deploys words and phrases that can create mental images helping the audience to realistically visualize the speaker’s writings. For instance, the speaker states, “My gazing soul would dwell … (Vaughan, p.52, line 12)” while it is known that it is eyes which can gaze at something. The speaker intends to mean that his soul is concentrating on something but he had to say that his soul was gazing to create an imaginary picture of how his soul was. Another instance is when the speaker says, “… all this fleshly dress … (Vaughan, p.52, line 19)” The speaker refers to the bodily flesh as the dress. The speaker intends to mean that just as the dress hides the secrets of the body so does the flesh hide the sins deviling human senses.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the speaker says, “But I by backward steps would move … (Vaughan, p.52, line 30)” noting that the blissfulness of the childhood years cannot get off him. The life speaker lived during in the mortal world made him feel the emptiness and loneliness as opposed to the feeling of childhood. The realms of childhood innocence make children experience the fulfillment of life without various forms of guilt hanging around an individual.
Work Cited
Vaughan, Henry. "The Retreat." Sacred Poems and Pious Ejaculations (1976): 51-54.
