Editing Henry Vaughan (section)

==Poetic influences==
Vaughan was much indebted to George Herbert, who provided a model for his new-found spiritual life and literary career,<ref name="Bartleby"/> showing a "spiritual quickening and the gift of gracious feeling" derived from Herbert.<ref name=Grosart>{{Cite book |title=Essay on the Life and Writings of Henry Vaughan, Silurist --''in'' The Works in Verse and Prose Complete of Henry Vaughan, Silurist, Vol. II |editor-last=Grosart |editor-first=Rev. Alexander B.  |pages=ix–ci Blackburn, 1871, reprinted in Literature Criticism from 1400 to 1800, Vol. 27, ed. Person J E |publisher=Gale 1995 |location=London UK}}</ref>{{Rp |p2}}

[[Richard Chenevix Trench|Archbishop Trench]] took the view, "As a divine Vaughan may be inferior [to Herbert], but as a poet he is certainly superior."<ref name=Grosart/>{{Rp |p2}} Critics praise Vaughan's use of literary elements. His monosyllables, long-drawn alliterations and ability to compel the reader to rate him as "more than the equal of George Herbert". Yet others say the two are not even comparable, as Herbert is in fact the Master. While these commentators admit that Henry Vaughan's use of words can be superior to Herbert's, they believe his poetry is, in fact, worse. Herbert's superiority is said to rest on his profundity and consistency.<ref name=Grosart/>{{Rp |p4}}

Certainly Vaughan would have never written the way he did without Herbert's posthumous direction. (The latter had died in 1633.) The explicit spiritual influence here is all but proclaimed in the preface to ''Silex Scintillans''.<ref name=Calhoun/>{{Rp|p2}} The prose of Vaughan exemplifies this as well. For instance, Herbert's ''The Temple'' is often seen as the inspiration and model on which Vaughan created his work. ''Silex Scintillans'' is most often classed with this collection of Herbert's, as it borrows the same themes, experience and beliefs. Herbert's influence is evident in the shape and the spirituality of Vaughan's poetry. For example, the opening to Vaughan's poem "Unprofitableness" – "How rich, O Lord! How fresh thy visits are!" – recalls Herbert's 'The Flower':

:How fresh, O Lord, how sweet and clean
:Are thy returns! ev'n as the flowers in spring

Another work of Vaughan's that parallels Herbert is ''Mount of Olives'', for example in the passage, "Let sensual natures judge as they please, but for my part, I shall hold it no paradoxe to affirme, there are no pleasures in the world. Some coloured griefes of blushing woes there are, which look as clear as if they were true complexions; but it is very sad and tyred truth, that they are but painted." This echoes Herbert's ''Rose'':<ref name=Calhoun/>{{Rp |p2}}

:In this world of sugar's lies,
:And to use a larger measure
:Than my strict yet welcome size.
:First, there is no pleasure here:
:Coloure'd griefs indeed there are,
:Blushing woes that look as clear,
:As if they could beauty spare.

Critics have argued that Vaughan is enslaved to Herbert's works, using similar "little tricks" such as abrupt introductions and whimsical titles as a framework for his work, and "failing to learn" from Herbert. Vaughan was said to be unable to know his limits and focus more on the intensity of the poem, meanwhile losing the attention of his audience.<ref name=Grosart/>{{Rp |pp5-6}}

Yet [[Alexander Grosart]] denies that Vaughan was solely an imitator of Herbert.<ref name=Grosart/>{{Rp |p3}} There are moments when the reader can see Vaughan's true self, where he shows naturalness, immediacy and ability to relate the concrete through poetry.<ref name=Calhoun/>{{Rp |p63}} In some cases he draws observations from Herbert's language that are distinctly his own. It is as if Vaughan takes proprietorship of some of Herbert's work, yet makes it unique to himself.<ref name=Calhoun/>{{Rp |p66}} Vaughan takes another step away from Herbert in his presentation. Herbert in ''The Temple'' – often the source of comparison between the two writers – lays down explicit instructions on its reading. This contrasts with Vaughan's attitude that the experience of reading is the best guide to his meanings, so that he promoted no special reading method.<ref name=Calhoun/>{{Rp |p140}}

At these times Vaughan shows himself different from any other poet. Much of the distinction comes from an apparent lack of sympathy with the world about him. His aloof appeal to his surroundings detaches him and displays his love of nature and mysticism. This in turn influenced later poets such as Wordsworth. His mind thinks in terms of a physical and spiritual world and the obscure relation between the two,<ref name=Calhoun/>{{Rp |p132}} often moved to original, unfamiliar, remote places reflected in his poetry. He was loyal to the themes of the Anglican Church and religious festivals, but found his true voice in the more mystical themes of eternity, communion with the dead, nature, and childhood. He was a "poet of revelation" who used the Bible, Nature and his own experience to illustrate his vision of eternity.<ref>Noel K. Thomas, ''Henry Vaughan, Poet of Revelation'', Churchman Publishing, Worthing, 1985. {{ISBN|1 85093 042 2}}.</ref> This gives Vaughan's poetry a particularly modern sound.

Alliteration, conspicuous in Welsh poetry, is more commonly used by Vaughan than by most of his contemporaries in English, noticeably in the opening to "The Water-fall".<ref name="ReferenceA">F. E. Hutchinson, 1947. ''Henry Vaughan, A life and Interpretation'', Oxford: Clarenden Press.</ref>

Vaughan drew on personal loss in two well-known poems: "The World" and "They Are All Gone into the World of Light". Another, "The Retreat", combines the theme of loss with the corruption of childhood, which is yet another consistent theme of his. Vaughan's new-found personal voice and persona are seen to result of the death of a younger brother.

This is an example of an especially beautiful fragment of one of his poems entitled 'The World':

:I saw Eternity the other night,
:Like a great ring of pure and endless light,
::All calm, as it was bright,
:And round beneath it, Time in hours, days, years
::Driv'n by the spheres
:Like a vast shadow mov'd; in which the world
::And all her train were hurl'd.<ref>[https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/html/1807/4350/poem2241.html Henry Vaughan, 'The World' – RPO]</ref>