Poetry of contemplation john donne, george herbert, henry vaughan, and the modern period 1990

title: author: publisher: isbn10 | asin: print isbn13: ebook isbn13: language: subject publication date: lcc: ddc: subject: Poetry of Contemplation : John Donne, George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, and the Modern Period Clements, Arthur L State University of New York Press 0791401278 9780791401279 9780585091136 English English poetry Early modern, 1500-1700 History and criticism, Contemplation in literature, Christian poetry, English History and criticism, Mysticism in literature, Donne, John, 1572-1631 Criticism and interpretation, Herbert, George, 1593-1633 Cri 1990 PR545.C675C57 1990eb 821/.3/09384 English poetry Early modern, 1500-1700 History and criticism, Contemplation in literature, Christian poetry, English History and criticism, Mysticism in literature, Donne, John, 1572-1631 Criticism and interpretation, Herbert, George, 1593-1633 Cri Page i Poetry of Contemplation John Donne, George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, and the Modern Period ARTHUR L CLEMENTS State University of New York Press Page ii Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 1990 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews For information, address State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, NY 12246 Library of Congress Cataloging-in Publication Data Clements, Arthur L Poetry of contemplation: John Donne, George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, and the modern period / Arthur L Clements p cm Bibliography: p Includes index ISBN 0-7914-0126-X ISBN 0-7914-0127-8 (pbk.) English poetryEarly modern, 15001700History and criticism Contemplation in literature Christian poetry English-History and criticism Mysticism in literature Donne, John, 15721631Criticism and interpretation Herbert, George, 15931633Criticism and interpretation Vaughan, Henry, 16221695Criticism and interpretation Literature, Modern20th centuryHistory and criticism I Title PR545.C675C57 1990 821©.3©09384dc19 88-32408 CIP 10 Page iii For my children, Margaret, Stephen, Michael, and Thomas And for my grandchildren, Michele, Phillip, Rachele, and Anthony Page v Contents Acknowledgments Preface Chapter Contemplative Tradition Chapter John Donne Chapter George Herbert Chapter Henry Vaughan Chapter Contemplative Poetry and the Modern Period Appendix A Grouping of the Songs and Sonnets and a General Dating of Poems Appendix B Selected Bibliography of "The Exstasie" Notes Works Cited Index vii xi 19 81 129 173 241 246 251 281 297 Page vii Acknowledgments This book has been a long time in the making Since "gratitude is heaven itself," as William Blake remarks, it is thus a very special pleasure to express appreciation for the help and encouragement of those who contributed in various ways to its making I feel a particular sense of debt and gratitude to two of my teachers, W T Stace and R A Durr, who early stimulated my interest, respectively, in the philosophy of religion and in seventeenth-century poetry, and from both of whom I learned much about mysticism I hope and believe their good influences may be apparent from the beginning to the end of this book Friends and colleagues made various contributions Albert Tricomi of SUNY-Binghamton read through the manuscript and offered many thoughtful suggestions; I was able to consult with during the development of the manuscript through earlier and later versions, and I invariably found his responses constructive and helpful Mary Giles of California State University, Sacramento, gave much specific, useful advice not only as reader of the manuscript but also earlier as the editor of Studia Mystica, in which two of my essays incorporated in this book were previously published; I am especially grateful for her advice to expand the last chapter and strengthen the case for the transformative power of contemplative poetry Robert Boenig and Terence Hoagwood, both of Texas A&M University, also read the manuscript and provided many thoughtful and detailed comments for improvements Norman Burns of SUNY-Binghamton read part of the manuscript All students of seventeenth-century English literature are of course indebted to the work of Louis L Martz of Yale University and Joseph H Summers of the University of Rochester; I have benefitted, additionally, from their insightful readings Page viii of my manuscript I am conscious of the valuable contributions made by all these readers The shortcomings are my own If this book is at all gracefully written, it owes much to the help, example, and presence of the poet, Susan Hauptfleisch Clements, my wife My friend and colleague Philip Brady helped with the proofreading and index Tamara Jetton, a student in my graduate seventeenth-century poetry seminar, Fall 1989, also helped with proofreading The National Endowment for the Humanties awarded me a fellowship which provided free time to some of the research and writing on George Herbert The Research Foundation of the State University of New York supported the research and writing of other parts of this book with awards of summer fellowships in 1973, 1974, and 1978 The Union of University Professionals of the State University of New York granted two Faculty Travel Awards to enable me to travel to libraries to conduct research The following publishers and journals kindly granted permission to reprint, usually in a much revised form, some of my previously published work From The Mystical Poetry of Thomas Traherne Reprinted by permission of Harvard University Press From "Theme, Tone and Tradition in George Herbert's Poetry," English Literary Renaissance, (1973), 264283 Reprinted by permission of English Literary Renaissance From "Mysticism, Science, and the Task of Poetry," Studia Mystica, (1986), 4659, and "Meditation and Contemplation in Henry Vaughan: 'The Night,'" 10 (1987), 333 Reprinted by permission of Studia Mystica From "Donne's 'Holy Sonnet XIV,'" Modern Language Notes, 76 (1961), 484489 Reprinted by permission of The Johns Hopkins University Press From "Sacramental Vision: The Poetry of Robert Penn Warren," South Atlantic Bulletin, 43 (1978), 4765 Reprinted by permission of South Atlantic Modern Language Association From "Syntax, Structure, and Self in Galway Kinnell's Poetry," (1987), 5685 Reprinted by permission of Cumberland Poetry Review The following publishers kindly granted permission to reprint some of the work of others From Mysticism by Evelyn Underhill Reprinted by permission of NAL Penguin, Inc Page ix From Robert Penn Warren's New and Selected Poems: 19231985, and Selected Poems 19231975 Copyright by Robert Penn Warren Reprinted by permission of Random House From The Complete Poems of D H Lawrence, collected and edited by Vivian de Sola Pinto and F Warren Roberts Copyright (c) 1964, 1971 by Angelo Ravagli and C M Weekley, Executors of the Estate of Frieda Lawrence Ravagli All rights reserved Reprinted by permission of Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA, Inc From The Collected Letters of D H Lawrence by D H Lawrence Copyright 1932 by the Estate of D H Lawrence Copyright renewed (c) 1960 by the Estate of Frieda Lawrence Ravagli All rights reserved Reprinted by permission of Vikig Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA, Inc "The Bear" from Body Rags by Galway Kinnell Copyright (c) 1967 by Galway Kinnell Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company "St Francis and the Sow" and "Fergus Falling" from Mortal Acts, Mortal Words by Galway Kinnell Copyright (c) 1980 by Galway Kinnell Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company "Freedom, New Hampshire" from What a Kingdom It Was by Galway Kinnell Copyright (c) 1960 by Galway Kinnell Reprinted by permission of Houghton Mifflin Company Page xi Preface The Argument As the true method of knowledge is experiment, the true faculty of knowing must be the faculty which experiences This faculty I treat of the Poetic Genius is the true Man William Blake The desire for union with God is the basic and vital center of religious life, and this desire is the essence of mysticism Mystical or contemplative experience is the heart of religion in the sense that its characterizes the divine as being present in experience Every mystic's distinction is that he or she attains to union or an aspect of it in this life, and need not wait entirely until the afterlife The mystic is the one who, given an initial and partial realization of higher reality, makes the fervent attempt to realize full union Mysticism need not and must not be set apart from orthodox faith-religion but is in fact its most profound and essential life The wise mystic, as Rufus Jones notes, does not exalt his own illuminations over historical revelation, but rather interprets them "in the light of the master-revelations." To understand, the seventeenth-century religious poets requires a knowledge of the central religious tradition that they themselves would have known, lived, and dwelled in, for this tradition, through its Bible and its writers, theologians, and Church doctors ("the light of the master-revelations"), formulates what is most essential to these poets: their relationship to divinity John Donne's religious consciousness seems in a sense more fully developed and advanced in his secular rather than in his divine poetry This critical perception by itself may suggest how important and permeating religious Page xii consciousness was in everyday life during the Middle Ages and Renaissance Perhaps the modern mind, after "the death of God" in the nineteenth century, cannot fully appreciate, at least without a radical transformation of that mind, that the religious life was as vital, integral, and nourishing to the seventeenth-century poet as earth, sun, air, and rain are to a flower And at the center of the heart of that religious life was the passionate contemplative desire for union with divinity Thus, a knowledge of contemplative tradition and of the nature of contemplative life is central to an understanding and appreciation of these poets To be a Christian in the fullest sense, each one of them would thoroughly need and want to be, as this book intends the terms, a Christian contemplative Critical opinion has been vigorously and variously advanced concerning the major religious elements of meditation and contemplation (or mysticism) in the poetry of John Donne, George Herbert, and Henry Vaughan First, there are those critics who argue ably and knowledgeably that these three are meditative poets; secondly, those who adduce considerable scholarship to establish one or another of the three poets not primarily as meditative but as mystical; and, thirdly, those who with seemingly equal skill, contend that no one of the three is at all a mystic, or who at least reject the primacy of mysticism One of many reasons for the critical division regarding mysticism in these poets may simply involve the matter of which poems a critic focuses upon Some of their poems are conventionally religious and pious; Some are mainly meditative; but others, usually their most distinguished and highly regarded poems, have profound and powerful mystical elements in them, sometimes alongside the pious and meditative elements Hence critics may well be divided; and hence the answer to the question whether these poets are mystical (which some critics answer yes and others no) is yes and nodepending on which poems one is referring to, on whether one believes a few or many poems must be mystical before designating a poet mystical, and, especially, on how one understands the meaning of "mysticism." The critical problem is of course more serious than just choosing poems, and is in part linguistic, or definitional, precisely because the vexed yet vital question of mysticism in the seventeenth-century religious poets is often answered in terms of confused, uncertain, or ambiguous usages of the word "mysticism." As the anonymous Benedictine author of Medieval Mystical Tradition and Saint John of the Cross remarks, "mysticism is one of the most abused words in and Herbert, 113 and Kinnell, 212, 215, 223 and Mystical Experience, 191-196 and Vaughan, 169, 274 and Warren, 197 Works "Apocalypse", 186 "Climb Down, O Lordly Mind", 193 "Ego-Bound", 193-194 "Forget", 190 "Know-All", 190 "New Heaven and Earth", 180-191 "The Blind Man", 189 "The Ship of Death", 189-190 Apocalypse, 179, 193 Birds, Beasts and Flowers, 181 Last Poems, 181, 189, 196 Look! We Have Come Through, 181 More Pansies, 195 Pansies, 181, 195 St Mawr, 192-193 The Man Who Died, 186, 191 The Rainbow, 179 Women in Love, 179, 191-192 Leavis, F.R., 279 Le Comte, Edward, 21, 57, 258 Lectio divina, 2, 141 Leo the Great, 58 Leucipus, 228 Levenson, J.C., 262 Lewalski, Barbara, 82, 257, 265 Locke, John, 227 Logan, John, 225 Lorca, Federico, 176 Louth, Andrew, 11, 14, 34, 167 Low, Anthony, 82-83, 129, 143, 264, 275 Luther, Martin, 10, 58 M Mahood, M.M., 133, 270 Maleski, Mary, 266 Mandell, Gail Porter, 179 Marilla, E.L., 129, 274 Marotti, Arthur, 243, 255 Marshall, Tom, 179 Martz, Louis, xiii, 3, 26, 68, 76, 102, 129, 132, 251, 262, 269, 278 Works George Herbert and Henry Vaughan, 275 The Poetry of Meditation, 83, 92, 267 Marvell, Andrew, 31, 32, 145, 237 Mazzeo, Joseph Anthony, 258 McKevlin, Dennis, 258 Meditation, 2-4 and Contemplation, xi-xv, and Donne, 27, 29, 75 and Herbert, 82-83, 91, 96, 116-117, 119, 122-123 and Purgation, and Vaughan, 129-130, 132, 136, 138-141, 143-146, 149, 151, 155, 169 Merton, Thomas, xiii, 4, 152, 156 Miller, Edmund, 267 Milton, John, 52-53, 112, 162, 230 Mirandola, Pico Della, 62, 259 More, Anne, 57, 61 More, Sir George, 57 Mulder, John, 267, 278 Mystical Experience, characteristics of, xi-xiv, 17, 37-38, 50-51, 53-56, 75, 77, 121, 147, 169, 189, 191 extrovertive, 6-8, 10, 68, 113, 131, 168, 191 introvertive, 6-8, 34, 10, 65, 68, 113, Page 303 131, 168 kinds of, stages of, xiii, 2, 10, 14, 69, 74, 130, 148 types of, 2, See also Dark Night of the Soul; Illumination; Purgation; Vision of Dame Kind; Vision of Eros; Vision of God; Vision of Philia N Negative Theology, 187 See also Apophatic Theology; Cataphatic Theology Negative Way, 82 Neoplatonism, 1, 2, 7, 14, 32, 38, 65, 150, 157, 192 See also Plato; Platonism Nephesh, 11, 254 Neruda, Pablo, 176 Nestrick, William V., 265 Newton, Sir Isaac, 172, 277 Nicodemus, 131-135, 143, 150 Nietzsche, Freidrich, 174 Novarr, Davis, 84, 244, 257, 263-264 Nygren, Anders, 60 O O'Connell, Patrick F., 260, 263 Oliver, H.J., 129 Oliver, Mary, 225 Origen, 14-15, 58, 114, 145, 167-168 Otto, Rudolf, 6, 90 P Palmer, George H., 82 Pantheism, 6, 270-271 Parker, Derek, 258 Parry, Graham, 42, 43, 275 Patrides, C.A., 96 Paul, Saint, 11-12, 18, 29-30, 52, 93, 105, 133, 254, 269-271 Pauli, Wolfgang, 28, 195, 229, 232 Pebworth, Ted-Larry, 66, 255, 275 Peers, E Allison, 278 Petrarch, 49 Pettet, E.C., 274, 278 Picasso, Pablo, 23 Pinka, Patricia Garland, 255 Pinto, Vivian de Sola, 179 Plato, xvi, 1, 2, 5, 7-8 63-65, 163, 228, 234 Works Phaedo, 14 Phaedrus, 14, 232 Philebus, 14 The Republic, 230 Statesman, 14 Symposium, 14, 33, 63-64, 232 Thaetetus, 14, 36 The Republic, 230 Timaeus, 157, 162, 236 See also Neoplatonism; Platonism Platonism, 7-8, 14, 24, 44-45, 175, 181, 235 Pliny, 162 Plotinus, 1-2, 6, 14-15, 33-34, 36, 157, 231 Pneuma, 11-13, 16, 18, 253-254 and Donne, 21, 257, 29-30, 36, 39, 46, 54, 75 and Herbert, 117, 169, 269-270 and Modern Poetry, 230, 233 and Platonism, 230 and Vaughan, 145, 156 See also Ego; False Self; Psyche; True Self; Two Selves Pollock, John, 149 Post, Jonathan, 129, 273-274 Prayer, 2-4, 83, 122, 132, 136-138, 141, 144, 146-147, 150 Pribram, Karl, 233-234, 279 Psyche, 11-13, 15-16, 18, 253-254 and Donne, 21, 30, 32, 39, 46, 54, 56, 75 and Herbert, 169, 269 and Lawrence, 188 and Platonism, 230 and Vaughan, 158, 169 See also Ego; False Self; Pneuma; True Self; Two Selves Purification, see Purgation Purgation, 3-5, 7, 10, 16-18 and Donne, 30, 33, 74, 76, 78 and Herbert, 91, 110-111 and Vaughan, 141-142, 144, 148, 154 Q Quarles, Francis, 88 R Ransom, John Crowe, 196 Rebirth, 10-11, 13 and Donne, 42, 62, 70, 72, 75, 169 and Herbert, 104, 121-122, 169 and Kinnell, 215 and Lawrence, 187 and Modern Poetry, 177 and Vaughan, 131, 146-147, 149, 153, 159-160, 169 and Warren, 197, 211 See also Redemption; Regeneration Redemption, 15, 18, 59, 169, 214 See also Rebirth; Regeneration Regeneration, 2, 10-11, 13 and Donne, 36 and Herbert, 104 and Kinnell, 214-215, 224, 237 and Modern Poetry, 177 and Vaughan, 146, 153, 158-160 See also Rebirth, Redemption Rexroth, Kenneth, 180 Rich, Saint Edmund, 150, 168 Richard of Saint Victor, Rickey, Mary Ellen, 82 Roberts, John, 246-247, 266 Page 304 Roethke, Theodore, 176-177, 225, 232 Rolle, Richard, 3, 146 Rollin, Roger B., 259 Rooney, William, 257 Ruach, 11, 254 Rudrum, A.W., 151, 166, 273-274, 278 Rutherford, Samuel, 10 Ruysbroech, Jan, 1, 16 S Saccas, Ammonius, 14 Sandbank, S., 276 Sanders, Wilbur, 258 Schroedinger, Erwin, 229, 236 Scotus, Duns, 46 Scupoli, Lorenzo, 83, 88, 91-94 Seelig, Sharon Cadman, 273-274 Seneca, 162 Severance, Sibyl Lutz, 265 Sexton, Anne, 78-79 Shaw, Robert, 268-269 Shawcross, John T., 243-244, 255, 260, 264 Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 238 Sherwood, Terry G., 256 Simmonds, James, 129 Simpson, Evelyn, 264 Smart, Christopher, 172 Smith, A.J., 22, 39-41, 43, 56, 259, 277-278 Snyder, Gary, 225 Song of Songs, the, 14, 37, 145-146 Spencer, Sidney, xiii Spilka, Mark, 180 Stace, W.T., xii, 6-7, 17, 121, 131, 147, 149, 181, 200, 252-253 Stambler, Elizabeth, 267 Stevens, Wallace, 168, 225 Stewart, Bain, 273-274 Stewart, Stanley, 145, 154, 266-267, 278 Stone, Ruth, 225 Strier, Richard, 90, 271 Summers, Claude J., 66, 255, 275 Summers, Joseph H., 82, 266-267 Suzuki, D.T., xiii T Tat tvam asi, 14, 239 Tate, Allen, 196 Taylor, Jeremy, 10 Teresa, Saint, 5, 23, 50, 254 Thekla, Sister Maria, 266 Thomas, Dylan, 164 Thomas, Noel K., 275 Thomason, T Katherine, 259 Thompson, Francis, 172 Thorpe, James, 272 Tillyard, E.M.W., 49, 228 Tolstoy, 238 Traherne, Thomas, xiii-xv, 10, 17, 83, 104, 113, 117, 236 and Contemplative Tradition, and Kinnell, 218 and Modern Poetry, 175, 177 and Vaughan, 151, 156, 157, 162-164, 171-172 and Warren, 200 Transcendence, 6, 8-10, 15, 24, 36, 152, 175, 181, 234 Triverton, Father, 180 True Self, 11-14, 16-18 and Donne, 32, 38-39, 54, 57, 77, 170 and Herbert, 95, 116, 122-123, 170, 269 and Kinnell, 212, 215, 220, 224 and Lawrence, 180, 186-187, 189, 195 and Modern Poetry, 176 and Vaughan, 131, 148-149, 170 See also Ego; False Self; Pneuma; Psyche; Two Selves Tuve, Rosemond, 93 Two Selves, and Contemplative Tradition, 2, 16 and Donne, 45 and Herbert, 84, 92, 94-95, 106, 108, 120 and Lawrence, 180, 186, 195 and Vaughan, 131, 165 and Warren, 204 See also Ego; False Self; Pneuma; Psyche; True Self Two Worlds, 45, 50, 154, 165, 187, 189, 234 U Underhill, Evelyn, xiii, 4, 6, 11, 17, 76, 91, 110-111, 147, 160, 277 Union, xi-xii, 3-6, 10, 14-15, 17 and Donne, 23, 27, 30, 36-38, 53, 59, 72, 74-75, 77-78, 169 and Herbert, 91, 108, 111, 115, 125-126, 169 and Vaughan, 130, 137, 138-142, 145-150, 154, 169 and Warren, 211 V Vaughan, Henry, 129-172 and Contemplative Tradition, xii-xiii, 1, 4, 10-11, 13, 17-18 and Donne, 40, 66, 68, 75-76, 130, 167-172, 261 and Herbert, 83, 104, 113-114, 130, 167-172 and Modern Poetry, 174, 177, 228, 232, 237, 239 Page 305 and Traherne, 171 and Warren, 200 sequences in, 151-167, 278 Works: "And they so?", 160 "Ascension Day", 137 "Ascension Hymn", 153 "Child-hood", 89, 152-153 "Christs Nativity", 160, 163 "Corruption", 156, 158-160, 163 "Day of Judgment", 154 "Death", 154 "Faith", 137 "H Scriptures", 159 "I walkt the other day", 165-167 "Idle Verse", 160 "Joy of my life", 87, 137 "L'Envoy", 151 "Man", 157 "Midnight", 137 "Peace", 129 "Quickness", 164 "Regeneration", 145, 153-154 "Religion", 154 "Repentence", 137 "Resurrection and Immortality", 154 "Rules and Lessons", 137 "The Book", 151-152 "The Constellation", 137 "The Holy Communion", 164 "The Morning-watch", 160-165 "The Night", 27, 59, 69, 74, 76, 130-150, 156 "The Retreate", 157-158, 159 "The Sap", 157 "The Search", 129, 154 "The Tempest", 157 "The World", 137, 145, 155-156, 164-165 "To Amoret, of the difference 'twixt him, and other Lovers", 169 "To Amoret, Walking in a Starry Evening", 169 "To the Holy Bible", 151 "Unprofitableness", 159-160 "Vanity of Spirit", 155-156, 164-165 Silex Scintillans, 136, 151-154, 162-163, 167 The Mount of Olives, 134, 276 Veith, Gene Edward Jr., 266 Vendler, Helen, 82, 121, 267, 269 Via mystica, xiii, 4, 12, 16-17, 126, 131, 142, 169 Via negativa, 137, 150-151, 190, 210 Via positiva, 82 Vickers, Brian, 258 Virgil, 145, 158 Vision of Art, 168, 169, 212, 222, 231, 237, 239 Vision of Dame Kind, 9-10 and Donne, 33, 35, 38, 45-46, 54, 61 and Herbert, 113-115, 118, 270 and Kinnell, 212, 216 and Lawrence, 180, 190-192 and Modern Poetry, 174 and Vaughan, 130, 140, 152, 154, 157, 162, 165, 167-168, 170-172 and Warren, 206, 208 Vision of Eros, 10 and Donne, 60-61, 63-65, 68, 77 and Donne's "The Canonization", 45-46 and Donne's "The Exstasie", 24, 26, 30, 33-36, 38, 42, 44 and Donne's Songs and Sonnets, 53-54, 57-58, 68, 256 and Herbert, 81, 118, 154, 169, 271 and Modern Poetry, 174 and Vaughan, 169, 170, 174, 180, 188, 190-192 Vision of God, 10, 17 and Donne, 24, 27, 33, 35, 38, 44-45, 61, 63, 68, 77, 244, and Herbert, 81, 98, 113, 115, 117-118, 271 and Lawrence, 180 and Modern Poetry, 174 and Vaughan, 130, 140, 151-152, 157, 165, 168-170 Vision of Philia, 10, 252 and Donne, 30, 35-36, 38, 46 and Herbert, 116-118 and Lawrence, 180, 195 and Modern Poetry, 174 and Vaughan, 170 and Warren, 206, 216 W Walton, 57, 264 Warren, Austin, 22 Warren, Robert Penn, xiv, xvii, 176, 179, 196-211, 219, 232 and Kinnell, 215 sequences in, 197-211 Works: "Blow, West Wind", 209 "Brotherhood in Pain", 208 "Can I See Arcturus From Where I Stand?", 202 "Court-Martial", 198 "Delight", 208, 211 ...Page i Poetry of Contemplation John Donne, George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, and the Modern Period ARTHUR L CLEMENTS State University of New York Press Page ii Published by State University of New... vigorously and variously advanced concerning the major religious elements of meditation and contemplation (or mysticism) in the poetry of John Donne, George Herbert, and Henry Vaughan First, there... some of the research and writing on George Herbert The Research Foundation of the State University of New York supported the research and writing of other parts of this book with awards of summer