This paper will discuss the role of death in three poems of the Welsh metaphysical poet Henry Vaughan, who lived from 1621 to 1695. Among other things quotations from critics such as the one from David Reid: “As a visionary, Vaughan is a poet of death.” (179) and the frequent appearance of the preoccupation with death in Vaughan’s poems show the importance of death in the works this metaphysical poet. In the seventeenth- century it was a common Christian belief that life meant separation from God and that only death was able to bring man in front of God, so that after life the soul of man could exist in the presence of Him. Death at that time was also seen as the leveller of pride and as the breaking of the beauty as the motifs “carpe diem” and “memento mori” show. The reason for the author of this paper to choose this special topic was Vaughan’s beautiful and overwhelming way to describe his longing for death. This kind of longing suggests that Vaughan loves death. The task of this paper is to demonstrate this attitude of Vaughan towards death with the help of the interpretation of three of his poems, so that the author of this paper in the end has answered the question: Does Vaughan see death as the gate to God? This paper will discuss the poems “They Are All Gone into the World of Light!”, “The Water- fall” and “The Night”. Every poem will be interpreted with a focus on death and after that the author of the paper will explain what death means for Vaughan depending on the poem. The writer would like to mention that in literature the poems of Vaughan are rarely analysed with the focus on death. Because of that the author of the paper discussed the poems mainly by herself.
1. Introduction
This paper will discuss the role of death in three poems of the Welsh metaphysical poet Henry Vaughan, who lived from 1621 to 1695.
Among other things quotations from critics such as the one from David Reid: “As a visionary, Vaughan is a poet of death.” (179) and the frequent appearance of the preoccupation with death in Vaughan’s poems show the importance of death in the works this metaphysical poet. In the seventeenth- century it was a common Christian belief that life meant separation from God and that only death was able to bring man in front of God, so that after life the soul of man could exist in the presence of Him. Death at that time was also seen as the leveller of pride and as the breaking of the beauty as the motifs “carpe diem” and “memento mori” show.
The reason for the author of this paper to choose this special topic was Vaughan’s beautiful and overwhelming way to describe his longing for death. This kind of longing suggests that Vaughan loves death. The task of this paper is to demonstrate this attitude of Vaughan towards death with the help of the interpretation of three of his poems, so that the author of this paper in the end has answered the question: Does Vaughan see death as the gate to God?
This paper will discuss the poems “They Are All Gone into the World of Light!”, “The Water- fall” and “The Night”. Every poem will be interpreted with a focus on death and after that the author of the paper will explain what death means for Vaughan depending on the poem. The writer would like to mention that in literature the poems of Vaughan are rarely analysed with the focus on death. Because of that the author of the paper discussed the poems mainly by herself.
2. Death as Vaughan’s Gate to God
2.1. They Are All Gone into the World of Light!
Henry Vaughan’s poem “They Are All Gone into the World of Light!”, which was published in the second edition of Vaughan’s collection of poems “Silex Scintillans” in 1655, clearly reveals his “. . . intense yearning for the illumination of heaven . . .” (Pettet 156) which can only be reached by death. The poem deals with people who died and the wish of Henry Vaughan to join them in “. . . the world of light! ” (Vaughan, They Are All Gone, line 1)
But before going into detail the formal aspects of the poem should be summarised. The poem consists of ten stanzas, each consisting of four lines. As a rhyme scheme Vaughan used the alternate rhyme throughout the poem. The metre is not regular. This has the consequence that the poem does not sound mechanical and allows a fluent speech. The language of the poem is dominated by the image of light in words like “light” (line 1) , “bright” (line 2), “gloomy” (line 6), “stars” (line 6 ), “kindle” (line 16) and “flame” (line 30). As a result the language does not give the reader a feeling that the poem deals with death and the loss of beloved persons at first sight.
In the beginning of the poem Vaughan remembers persons who have died, who “. . . are all gone into a world of light!”. (line 1) The dead now are stars. They are now “. . . walking in an air of glory,” (line 9) and their light reaches the narrator: “Whose light doth trample on my days:” (line 10) Heaven is the place Vaughan means by “. . . world of light!” (line 1) and those persons, who are dead, have reached it. (cf. Pettet 157)
The narrator himself is now longing for heaven and he also wants to be a part of it as the dead:
“These are your walks, and you have showed them me To kindle my cold love,” (line 16).
And full of yearning for heaven the narrator talks of death as beautiful and as “ the jewel of the just,” (line 17) For the narrator death stands for the release from mortal life and for the guide to a world that is much brighter than life on earth. He begins to be curious about the life that will be after death:
“What mysteries do lie beyond thy dust;
Could man outlook that mark!” (lines 19+ 20)
Further Vaughan compares a bird with the soul of man. The bird from the sixth stanza has flown away and now he is singing in a place a living person can neither understand nor know.
“He that hath found some fledged bird´s nest, may know At first sight, if the bird be flown; “ (lines 21+ 22)
shows that man can recognize that someone died but not where the dead or the soul of the dead is now. (cf.: Pettet 161) So the soul of the dead has reached higher ground, ground that man is unable to see because he is bound to mortal life.
Only when man is asleep he can get an idea of what heaven means or where the soul of the dead may have gone. In his sleep he is able to go behind everyday or normal subjects and into a higher world, “. . . into glory peep.” (Vaughan, They Are All Gone, line 28) that lies beyond mortal life.
In the following stanza the human body is compared with a tomb and the soul which is compared with a star is locked in this tomb. That means the soul is locked in the body. If one locks up the star/ the soul “She [ the star/ the soul] ‘ll shine through all the sphere.” (Vaughan, They Are All Gone, line 32) The body is seen as a prison in which the soul is captured and only death has the power to release her.
[...]
-
Laden Sie Ihre eigenen Arbeiten hoch! Geld verdienen und iPhone X gewinnen. -
Laden Sie Ihre eigenen Arbeiten hoch! Geld verdienen und iPhone X gewinnen. -
Laden Sie Ihre eigenen Arbeiten hoch! Geld verdienen und iPhone X gewinnen. -
Laden Sie Ihre eigenen Arbeiten hoch! Geld verdienen und iPhone X gewinnen. -
Laden Sie Ihre eigenen Arbeiten hoch! Geld verdienen und iPhone X gewinnen. -
Laden Sie Ihre eigenen Arbeiten hoch! Geld verdienen und iPhone X gewinnen.