Mysticism is simply religious experience in its highest
manifestations. In Christian mysticism, love is the distinguishing
factor; its focal point is the Incarnation. The mystic worships
God both In His Transcendence and In His Immanence, his emphasis
usually being on one or other of these aspects of His nature.
In the seventeenth century, two main mystical traditions
existed. One was the orthodox Catholic tradition; the other was
more unorthodox in character, stemming from the philosophy of
Hermes Trismegistes.
The mystic way consists of the five-fold path beginning
in Awakening, followed by Purgation, Illumination, the Dark Night
of the Soul, and climaxed by Union. The mystic life itself is not
vague or escapist: it is a life deified in order that it may be
dedicated. Contemplation and activity go hand in hand.
Mystical and poetical experience can be differentiated
by the direction which each experience takes: the poet returns
from his experience with his poem, whereas the mystic pushes on to
the fuller vision of God.
Turning specifically to George Herbert, I believe he was
never fully awakened in the mystical sense; hence, his subsequent
experience cannot be considered truly mystical. Nevertheless,
there are points of reference and similarities between Herbert and
the mystics. His Purgation, however, lacked the fullness of the
mystic's experience, for it lacked the most significant attribute of the purgative state, the stimulation of the will. A sense
of Illumination, moreover, is never sustained in Herbert. Rarely
does he express joy at God's presence. Indeed, he was most like
the mystic in his expression of despair. Thus the peace he came
to exemplify in his life at Bernerton is truly remarkable in the
light of the suffering revealed in his poems. The sense of
harmony and peace he ultimately achieved came not through inner
peace but through triumph over constant turmoil and despair.
Henry Vaughan, on the other hand, experienced, I believe,
a true mystic Awakening, accepting the obligations implicit in it,
and undergoing, as a consequence, a certain degree of Purgation.
His deepest suffering was closely linked with the persecution of
the church. His Illumination is best understood through his
approach to nature. His treatment of light imagery in nature,
however, tends to be misleading in an assessment of his mysticism.
I believe that the poems which deal most successfully with light
are really philosophical rather than mystical, and that his
Illumination, or vision, was essentially that of the poet and not
that of the mystic. The vision he captured is, nevertheless, one
of the fullest and loveliest to be found in our English poetry.
Both Herbert- and Vaughan sought to praise their Maker
through the medium of their art. They were deeply spiritual poets
though neither can be considered a mystic in the full sense of the
word. Each was essentially mystical in his aspirations, nevertheless
and In their individual accomplishments each tells us something of
the final and full accomplishment of the mystic: Vaughan through his
illuminated vision of the world, Herbert through his exemplary life
of holiness. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UBC/oai:circle.library.ubc.ca:2429/41507 |
| Date | January 1952 |
| Creators | Richardson, Nenagh Gweneth Mary |
| Publisher | University of British Columbia |
| Source Sets | University of British Columbia |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, Thesis/Dissertation |
| Rights | For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use. |
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