Mysticism in English Literature
Caroline F. E. Spurgeon
"Many are the thyrsus-bearers, but few are the mystics"
Phædo
Mysticism in English Literature
Note
The variety of applications of the term "mysticism" has forced me torestrict myself here to a discussion of that philosophical type ofmysticism which concerns itself with questions of ultimate reality. Myaim, too, has been to consider this subject in connection with greatEnglish writers. I have had, therefore, to exclude, with regret, theliterature of America, so rich in mystical thought.
I wish to thank Mr John Murray for kind permission to make use of anarticle of mine which appeared in the Quarterly Review, and also DrWard and Mr Waller for similar permission with regard to certainpassages in a chapter of the Cambridge History of English Literature,vol. ix.
I am also indebted to Mr Bertram Dobell, Messrs Longmans, Green, MrsCoventry Patmore and Mr Francis Meynell for most kindly allowing me toquote from the works respectively of Thomas Traherne, Richard Jefferies,Coventry Patmore, and Francis Thompson.
C.F.E.S.
April 1913.
Contents
I. Introduction
Definition of Mysticism. The Early Mystical Writers. Plato. Plotinus. Chronological Sketch of Mystical Thought in England.
Shelley, Rossetti, Browning, Coventry Patmore, and Keats.
III. Nature Mystics
Henry Vaughan, Wordsworth, Richard Jefferies.
(i) Poets.—Donne, Traherne, Emily Brontë, Tennyson.
(ii) Prose Writers.—William Law, Burke, Coleridge, Carlyle.
V. Devotional and Religious Mystics
The Early English Writers: Richard Rolle and Julian; Crashawe, Herbert, and Christopher Harvey; Blake and Francis Thompson.
Mysticism in English Literature
Chapter I
Introduction
Mysticism is a term so irresponsibly applied in English that it hasbecome the first duty of those who use it to explain what they mean byit. The Concise Oxford Dictionary (1911), after defining a mystic as"one who believes in spiritual apprehension of truths beyond theunderstanding," adds, "whence mysticism (n.) (often contempt)."Whatever may be the precise force of the remark in brackets, it isunquestionably true that mysticism is often used in a semi-contemptuousway to denote vaguely any kind of occultism or spiritualism, or anyspecially curious or fantastic views about God and the universe.
The word itself was originally taken over by the Neo-platonists from theGreek mysteries, where the name of μύστης given to the initiate,probably arose from the fact that he was one who was gaining a knowledgeof divine things about which he must keep his mouth shut (μύω = closelips or eyes). Hence the association of secrecy or "mystery" which stillclings round the word.
Two facts in connection with mysticism are undeniable whatever it maybe, and whatever part it is destined to play