Henry Vaughan

Henry Vaughan (1622-1695) wan an English poet, self-styled the "Silurist" from the seat of his family in South Wales. He studied at Oxford, and was a partisan of the royal cause. He wrote four volumes of poems in the vein of George Herbert, but was much more mystical and had deeper thoughts, could he have expressed them. Of his poems the first place has been assigned to "Silex Scintillans," the theme the flinty heart when smelted giving out sparks. "At times," adds Prof. Saintsbury, "there is in him genuine blood and fire; but it is not always, or even often, that the flint is kindled and melted to achieved expression".

Nearby pages
Henry VI, Henry Victor Regnault, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Henry Wace