The Retreat

            BY HENRY VAUGHAN

Happy those early days! when I

Shined in my angel infancy.

Before I understood this place

Appointed for my second race,

Or taught my soul to fancy aught

But a white, celestial thought;

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;

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.

       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.

But, ah! my soul with too much stay

Is drunk, and staggers in the way.

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.

 SUMMARY

The poems of Henry Vaughan are contained in Silex Seintillans. They appeared in two parts in 1650 and 1655. 'The Retreat' influenced Wordsworth in the composition of Immortality ' . Vaughan's 'Retreat ' is a religious lyric, a spiritual optimism. Vaughan's  expression and imagery bear the marks of the metaphysical religious poem of Donne.

Vaughan's first love in his poem is God. When he was still a child, the shining of God's bright face was reflected in him. But as the burden of worldly existence grew upon him, he lost the glimpse of the divinity. Vaughan wants to move backward because forward movement leads to sin:

                         Some men a forward motion love,

                                 But I by backward steps would move.

The title thus strikes the essence of the poem. The poet dislikes 'second race' . He wishes to retreat to heaven, the abode of God.

We find the child as an idealized picture in 'The Retreat'. It is poet's personal experiences and longing for the innocence and purity of childhood. The soul which gets United with God,

                      But ah! my soul with too much stay

                      Is drunk, and staggers in the way.

Henry Vaughan is sure that he will return to the dust and his soul will retreat to heaven.

'The Retreat' is full of short conceits, homely images and short sentences that belong to Metaphysical poetry. The poetry finds a place of perfection in English verse. It is a gift of music, but full of melody and grace.