Henry Vaughan Quotes


When first thy eyes unveil, give thy soul leave
To do the like; our bodies but forerun
The spirit's duty. True hearts spread and heave
Unto their God, as flow'rs do to the sun.
Give him thy first thoughts then; so shalt thou keep
Him company all day, and in him sleep.


Citations

Vaughan, Henry. "Rules and Lessons." The Works of Henry Vaughan, edited by L. C. Martin, vol. 2, Clarendon Press, 1914, p. 436.

Related Quotes

No Photo Available
  • Born: April 17, 1621
  • Died: April 23, 1695
  • Nationality: Welsh
  • Profession: Poet

Henry Vaughan was a Welsh metaphysical poet, author, translator and physician, writing in English. He is chiefly known for religious poetry published in Silex Scintillans in 1650, with a second part in 1655. In 1646 his poems, with the Tenth Satyre of Juvenal Englished, were published, followed by a second volume in 1647. Meanwhile, he had been persuaded by reading the religious poet George Herbert to give up "idle verse". The prose Mount of Olives or Solitary Devotions (1652) shows the depth of his religious convictions and authenticity of his genius. Two more volumes of secular verse followed, ostensibly without his sanction, but it is his religious verse that has been acclaimed. He also translated short moral and religious works and two medical works in prose. In the 1650s he began a lifelong practice of medicine.