Vaughan, Henry

Vaughan, Henry, 1622-95, one of the English metaphysical poets. Born in Breconshire, Wales, he signed himself Silurist, after the ancient inhabitants of that region. After leaving Oxford, where he did not take a degree, he turned to the study of law. Later he switched to medicine and spent his life as a highly respected physician. His greatest poetry is contained in Silex Scintillans (1650; second part, 1655), which includes "The Ascension Hymn," "The World," "Quickness," "The Retreat," and "They are all gone into the world of light." Though he openly admitted his indebtedness to George Herbert, where Herbert celebrates the institution of the Church, Vaughan is more interested in natural objects and in a mystical communion with nature. Vaughan's other works include Poems (1646), Olor Iscanus (1651), Thalia Rediviva (1678), The Mount of Olives (1652), and Flores Solitudinis (1654).

(born April 17, 1622, Llansantffraed, Breconshire, Wales—died April 23, 1695, Llansantffraed) Anglo-Welsh poet and mystic. Vaughan studied law but from the 1650s practiced medicine. After writing two volumes of secular poems, he read the religious poet George Herbert and gave up “idle verse.” He is chiefly remembered for the spiritual vision or imagination evident in his fresh and convincing religious verse and is considered one of the major practitioners of Metaphysical poetry. Works that reveal the depth of his religious convictions include Silex Scintillans (1650, enlarged 1655; “The Glittering Flint”) and the prose Mount of Olives (1652). He also translated short moral and religious works and two medical works.

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Notable people named Henry Vaughan include:

• Sir Henry Vaughan the elder (1587?-1659?), Welsh Member of Parliament and Royalist military leader during the English Civil War
• Sir Henry Vaughan the younger (1613-1676), his son, Member of Parliament for Carmarthenshire 1668-1679
• Henry Vaughan (1622-1695), 17th century Welsh poet
• Henry Vaughan (1721-1754), landowner
• Henry Halford Vaughan (1811-1885), historian
• Henry Vaughan (architect), (1845-1917), mainly designed churches