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Henry Vaughan was an inventive poet who used many forms.This blog contains examples and info upon some of these forms.
THE WORLD First 7 lines aaabbcc
I saw eternity the othr night
Like a great Ring of pure and endless night
All calm,as it was bright,
And round beneath it,Time in hours,days years
Driven by spheres
Like a vast shadow mov'd,in which th world
And all her train were hurl'd
QUICKNESS quatrain 8/4/8/8 abab
verse 1
False life ! a foil and no more,when
Wilt thou be gone ?
Thou foul deception of all men
That would not have the true come on
THE RETREATE quatrain 8/8/8/8 aabb
extract
When on somre gilded Cloud or flowre
My gazing soul would dwell an houre
And those weaker glories spy
Some shadow of eternity
THE SHOWRE sixain 10/10/10/4/4/10
abbccalast verse
Yet,if as thou dost melt,and with thy traine
Of drops make soft the Earth,my eyes would weep
O're my hard heart,that's bound up,and asleep
Perhaps at last
(some uch showres past)
My God would give Sun-shine after raine
UNTITLED (elegy for his brother) 10 lines
6484244444 ababccdeed
Last verse
Perhaps some think a tombe
No house of store
But a dark,and seal'd up wombe
Which ne'r breeds more.
Come,come !
Such thoughts benum;
But I would be
With him I weep
A bed,and sleep
To wake in thee.
THE MORNING WATCH 10 lines
10/10/444464/10/10 abacddcaee
last stanza
Whemn I lye down ! The Pious soul by night
Is like a clouded staire,whose beames though said
To shed their light
Under some cloud
Yet are above,
And shine,and move
Beyond that mistie shroud
So in my bed
Tha curtain'd grave,through sleep,like ashes hide
My lamp,and life,both shall in thee,abide
THE DAWNING opening sixain
1087784 aabbcc
Ah! what time wilt thou come? when shall that crie
The Bridegroome's Comming! fil the sky
Shall it in the Evening Sun
When our words and works are done?
Or will thy all-surpassing light
Break at mid-night?
UNTITLED (Elegy) quatrain 6484 abb
opening quatrain
Silence,and stealth of dayes! tis now
Since thou art gone,
Twelve hundered houres,and not a brow
But Clouds hang on
REGENERATION Octet 84866486
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Last two verses
It was a bnke of flowres,where I decried
(though t'was mid-day)
Some fast asleepe,others broad-eyed
and taking in the Ray,
Here musing long I heard
A rushing wind
Which still increased,but whence it stirr'd No where I could not ind;
I turn'd me round,and to each shade
Dispatch'd an eye
To see,if any leafe had made
Least motion ,or Reply,
But while I listning sought
My mind at ease
But knowing,where t'was,or where not
It whisper'd ,Where I please.
MAN 7 lines 8/10/10/8/10/6/10
ababcac
First & 3rd verse
Weighing the steadfastnesse and state
Of some mean things which here below reside
Where birds like watchful Clocks the noiseless date
And Intercourse of times divide,
Where Bees at night get home and hive,and flowrs
Early ,as well as late
Rise with the Sun,and set in the same bowrs;
Man hath stil either toyes,or Care,
He hath no root,not to one plave is ty'd,
But ever restless and Irregular
About this Earth doth run and ride,
He knows he hath a home,but scarce knows where
He sayes it is so far
That he hath quite forgot how to go there.
UNTITLED 7 lines 1041041046
abbaacc
3rd verse
O Thou ! whose spirit did first inflame
And warm the dead,
And by a secre Incubation fed
With life this frame
Which once had neither being,for me,nor name
Grant I may so
Thy steps track here below.
UNTITLED quatrain 108106 abab
verse a
O father of eternal life,and all
Created glories under thee!
Resume thy spirit from this world of thrall
Into true liberty
THE STARRE quatrain 101086 aabb
3rd verse
Yet,seeing all things tha subsist and be,
Have their Commission from Divinitie,
And teach us duty,I will see
What man may learn from thee
THE NIGHT (John 3:2) sixain 1010105510
ababcc
3rd Verse
O who will tell me,where
He found thee at tha dead and silent hour !
What hallow'd solitary ground did bear
So rare a flower,
Within whose sacred leafs did lie
The fulness of the Deity
