The Retreat is a religious poem with universal/ mystical/ moral identitydiscuss.

Henry Vaughans The Retreat is an example of

religious and mystical theme. The poem is taken from his best known collection
Silex Scintillans. In the Preface of its second part the poet acknowledged
( ) his great debt () to George Herbert, whose holy life
and verse gained many pious () converts (of whom I am the least). But
unlike Herbert, Vaughan blended religion with mysticism in his poems. He reveals
his idea of childhood innocence and the childs recollection () of
parental glory. The Retreat is one of the masterpieces of this philosophy.

Vaughan begins his poem with the glorification of childhood period:

Happy those early days! When I/ Shined in my angel infancy.

The poet indicates the angel like innocence and brightness of his infancy before
growing up into maturity. The earthly life is only second race while his Home is
Heaven. Childhood period is the most blessed one. It is free from the sin of the
world. [Childhood blessed
]. The childs soul is covered with celestial
light. The child does not go too far from his first Love. So when he looks back at
the short space he can see the bright face of his Father. But with the passage of
time the growing boy distances ( ) himself from Heaven.
The temptation of earth begins to close upon him.

The poet continues to glorify his period of infancy when he says that in his
childhood he could see, not through his eyes, but through his soul:

When on some gilded cloud or flower / My gazing soul would dwell an hour

And in those weaker glories spy/ Some shadows of eternity.

The expression shadows of eternity signifies the childs close association with
heaven. The adult men are blinded by material darkness. So they cannot realize
the futility of earthly life. While the child, even in small beauties like cloud or
flower can find the bliss and grace of living.

The second and last part of the poem is the poets philosophic realization. The
grown up man is exhausted with this state of life. To him the journey of this
earthly life is like climbing higher and higher peak. His travel on earth is like a
terrible journey across the desert, without the hope of salvation ();
while in his infancy the enlightened spirit could see That shady city of palm
trees. This image of an oasis is the Jews conception of Heaven in the burning
sands of Arabia and Palestine. The poet presents earthly life through another
image of a drunken person: But oh! My soul with too much stay/ Is drunk, and
staggers in the way.

He has drunk the material life to the last drop and so the intoxicated soul becomes
unsteady. His rejection of worldly life reveals ( ) itself in his wish
():

Some men a forward motion love/ But I by backward steps would move

Forward motion is morally backward as it leads to sin; backward motion in time

leads to innocence and so morally forward. The poet wants to make a physical
retreat to attain moral purity and innocence. But he also knows that such a wish is
impossible to achieve. So his ultimate () wish remains: And when this dust
falls to the urn/ In that state I came, return.

He consoles his soul with the thought that death and grave are only waiting of the
soul for Heaven. The poet evokes the idea of dust to suggest the insignificance of
human life. Our earthly life turns to naught while our soul remains immortal.

Thus The Retreat presents Vaughans mystical idea of childhood period and the
immortality of soul. The poem also reveals his philosophical realization about life.
We may say that the poem is central to an understanding of Vaughans life and art.
( Vaughans ).