Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE RETREAT, by HENRY VAUGHAN Poem Explanation Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Happy those early days! When I / shined in my angel-infancy Last Line: In that state I came return. Alternate Author Name(s): Silurist Subject(s): Absence; Children; Christianity; Faith; Innocence; Nostalgia; Regret; Separation; Isolation; Childhood; Belief; Creed | ||||||||
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. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...UNHOLY SONNET 4 by MARK JARMAN QUIA ABSURDUM by ROBINSON JEFFERS GOING TO THE HORSE FLATS by ROBINSON JEFFERS SONNET TO FORTUNE by LUCY AIKEN JONATHAN EDWARDS IN WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS by ROBERT LOWELL |
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