"The Retreat" by Henry Vaughan: An Analysis

"The Retreat" by Henry Vaughan: An Analysis 

The Retreat, a fine flower in the domain of Metaphysical poetry, well presents the poet Henry Vaughan's inner urge to go back once more to his childhood stage to attain the innocence and purity of a child which will make him close again to God. This poem is, no doubt, a perfect religious poem taken from Vaughan's most memorable collection of sacred poems, Silex Scintillans (1650) which means in English 'The Flashing Flints'. Henry Vaughan was a devoted follower of 'the blessed man, Mr. George Herbert'. George Herbert, 'the finest of the religious metaphysicals' as described by David Daiches, is known for his remarkable collection of religious poems, The Temple : Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations (1633).

Vaughan was conscious of the reality of life. He knew well this mundane world transforms gradually an innocent infant into a mature and experienced man. Life is a journey from birth to death. We are sent to this world by God to play a particular role. We are given a few minutes to continue our life as human beings in this world. Shakespeare says in his famous comedy, As You Like It, "All the world's a stage, / And all the men and women merely players; / They have their exits and their entrances..."  He also asserts in his notable Sonnet 60, that our life is nothing but only a collection of a few minutes, and 'our minutes' are moving forward in 'sequent toil' towards 'their end' like the movement of waves towards 'pebbled shore'. So Time plays the most prominent role in our life. As we are sent by God, our original home is Heaven and we must have to return there. Actually, our mortal body is valueless, it is only a mere dress for our soul which is immortal.

The Retreat suggests Vaughan's nostalgia for his childhood stage. To him childhood days were happy as in those days he was too close to God. Vaughan opines, "Happy those early days! When I / Shin'd in my Angell-infancy." But in this mundane world being a mature man he becomes a corrupted person full of sins. As a grown-up man, he does not feel comfortable continuing his life on this earth. Rather he feels much depressed and tormented as a part of this materialistic world. Maturity forces him to go far away from God's attachment. Physical satisfaction, lustful desires, evil acts, and selfish thoughts create a long gap between man and God. Vaughan says, "Before I taught my tongue to wound / My conscience with a sinful sound / Or had the black heart to dispense / A sev' rall sin to ev'ry sense..."

Finally, in the concluding stanza, Vaughan exposes his heartfelt desire to return back to his childhood stage to recapture the innocence of infancy. He wants to 'travel back and tread again that ancient track' to reach once more that 'plain' where he first left his 'glorious train' and from where 'the enlightened spirit sees that shady City of Palm trees.' That's why our poet likes 'backward steps'  more than 'a forward motion', and wants to return to 'that state' i. e. childhood stage in any way even through death.

Thus, The Retreat is obviously pervaded by a religious tone. The main motif of this poem is the glorification of childhood which is also the main force of Wordsworth's memorable poem "Immortality Ode".