Henry Vaughan, Olor Iscanus, or The Swan of Usk

Glyn Pursglove (Swansea University)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.04: English Writing and Culture of the Seventeenth Century, 1625-1688.
Vol. editors: Jennifer Brady (Rhodes College), Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Neil Forsyth (Université de Lausanne), Claire Preston (Queen Mary, University of London), J A Roe (University of York), Virginia Mason Vaughan (Clark University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1651

Places

Wales (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Poem collection
Translation

Resources

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Olor Iscanus

(“The Swan of Usk”) is a very miscellaneous collection, mixing prose and verse, both original and translated, in a variety of genres. On its title-page it is described as “A Collection of some select Poems, and Translations, formerly written by

Mr.

Henry Vaughan ,

Silurist

. Published by a Friend”. A puzzle surrounds its publication. The dedication of the book is dated “

Newton

Usk

this 17. of

Decemb.

1647”, some four years before the book was actually published. The delay was perhaps due to a change in Vaughan's conception of the purposes of poetry. His

Poems

of 1646 was a collection well within the mainstream of Cavalier love poetry. In 1650, when his

Silex Scintillans

was published, his Preface denounced “lascivious compositions” on “idle and sensual”…

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448 words

Citation: Pursglove, Glyn. "Olor Iscanus, or The Swan of Usk". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 07 July 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=3086, accessed 26 November 2024.]

Henry Vaughan, Olor Iscanus, or The Swan of Usk

Dates

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