Question- Explain with reference to the context any four of the following passages.

Answer -

1.

Happy those early days! When I
Shined in my angel infancy.
Before I understand this place
Appointed for my second race;
Or taught my soul to fancy aught
But a white, celestial thought;

Reference to Context: These lines quoted above have been taken from the poem "The Retreat" written by Henry Vaughan. In this poem the poet glorifies the childhood. He says that in childhood, life was lived in close communion with God. At that time, he was innocent and pure, but now he is surrounded by materialism and worldly affairs.

Explanation: In these lines, the poet says that childhood is a golden period when the child shines like an Angel. Childhood is angelic in the sense that it is both innocent and pure. A child is nearer to God because a child's vision of heaven has not yet been sullied and spoiled by the physical and material world. It is second life on earth. The poet lived his life in heaven, the vision of which is still nourished by the child. The childhood is the time when he has not yet learnt to think of any other matter except the purity of heaven. Thus in these lines, the poet regrets the loss of his childhood.

Note:

(1) The poem begins with a rhetorical exclamation.
(2) In the second line, in the phrase "my angel infancy" - find metaphor. It compares the quality of angels to that of a child.
(3) Second race - metaphors.
(4) Vaughan uses metanymy in the usage of the word "white". It is symbol of purity and innocence.

2.

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 diwell an hour,
And in those weaker glories spy
Some shadows of eternity;

Reference to context: These lines quoted above have been taken from Henry Vaughan's poem "The Retreat". In this poem, the poet regrets the loss of his childhood. It was his golden period when he could have the vision of heaven. It was innocent and pure childhood. But now it lost it in this material world.

Explanation: The poet says that the period of his infancy was the time when he had first come from heaven. Heaven is poet's first love from whence he has come to this earth. As a child, he has not travelled further than a mile or two and therefore, he can still envision heaven's celestial beauty and glory. The poet in his childhood finds vision of heaven and eternity in the glories of heaven and as a child he can percieve those glories. In his childhood, he could see the bright face of God. The poet wants to convey the idea that in childhood, man is near God. But as, he grows up, he moves away from God because of materialism.

Note:

(1) In the phrase "Short space" find "alliteration", the repetition of the 'S' sound creates a rhyming.
(2) In the line "could see a glimpse of His bright face", Vaughan alludes to the creator God.
(3) Platonic thought, in that the "glided cloud or flower" is regarded as being a "shadow of eternity" in a similar way to Plato's cave dwellers.

3.

Before I taught my tongue to wound
My conscience with a sinful sound,
Or had to black art to dispense
A several sin to every sense.
But felt through all this fleshy dress
Bright shoots of everlastingness.

Reference to Context: These lines above have been taken fromthe poem "The Retreat' written by Henry Vaughan. In this stanza, the poet regret the loss of his childhood. It was his golden period when he could have the vision of heaven. It was innocent and pure childhood. But now it is lost in this material world.

Explanation: In these lines, the poet describes that childhood is angelic because it is both innocent and pure. It was time when his thoughts, words and deeds were pure. He had not yet learnt to say any sinful word which would hurt anyone's conscience. But as man grows up he becomes sinful in thoughts, words and deeds. He acquires enough wickedness and wants to satisfy the needs of his five sense. The poet says that in childhood, he could feel through his body, the bright rays of eternity. Thus in these lines the poet glorifies the childhood.

Note:

(1) Assonance is the repetition of vowel sound in "A several sin to every sin".
(2) Alliteration: Such as 'S' in "sinful sound" and again /S/ in "several sin".
(3) Consonance: The sound of /t/ in "Before I taught my tongue to wound".

4.

O, how I long to travel back;
And tread again that ancient track!
That might once more reach that plain
Where first I left my glorious train,
From whence in enlightened spirit sees
That shady city of palm trees.

Reference to Context: These lines quoted above have been taken from the poem "The Retreat' written by Henry Vaughan. In this fourth stanza, the poet regrets the loss of childhood. Poet stops reminiscing and instead expresses his general longing for the past. The speaker would rather live in the past and walk again on "that ancient track" than living as he does now.

Explanation: In these lines, there is a strong desire in poet to go back to the old days of his childhood. He wants to be a child again so that he can bathe himself in the golden vision of heaven. Childhood was his golden period which had enabled him to have communion with God. These golden memories reminds him of the scene of the heaven which is a city of palm trees. This city of palm trees is seen as second Jerusalem. In this way the poet long for going back to the days of his childhood.

Note:

(1) The poet uses exclamations such as 'O; how I long to travel back / And tread again that ancient track".
(2) Imagery is used such as "And tread again that ancient track !", "That shady city of palm trees" that is seen as second Jerusalem.

5.

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.

Reference to Context: These lines quoted above have been taken from the poem The Retreat' written by Henry Vaughan. In the last six lines, the speaker mourns for what he will never have again. He has become "drunk" with his own longings and remembrances. In the final two lines he speaks about his own death.

Explanation: In this stanza, the poet wishes to return to the heavenly days of his childhood. Vaughan expresses a mystical concept in which earthly life is some sort of aberration or mistake and that a soul that has the misfortune to be born as a human being has a duty to stay incorrupt so that It can return whence it came. As the last line makes clear, this will only be possible. "In that state I came" Vaughan, this is the "forward motion", but it is not the direction that the soul should take if it is going to unde the mistake of birth. The speaker knows it is not a healthy way to live as he will "stagger" about his life without purpose.

This fact does not keep him from changing his opinion. He knows he is unlike other men; he loves the "backward steps" rather than "forward motion". In last two lines, poet speaks about his death. It will be the ultimate returning as he resumes the form of "dust". His body will return to the earth and become again what it was before he was born.

Note:

(1) In the last section, the lines "some men a forward motion love; / But I by backward steps would move" contain a "paradox".
(2) The poet uses symbols: corrupt childhood.
(3) The poem follows the AABB rhyme scheme until the end of the poem.
(4) This ending lines from "The Retreat" are relevant to use during a motivational speech about the great work to be started.

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