'For those readers who have always wanted to see him as the author of quiet, meditative verse, it will come as a revelation - even, perhaps as a shock - to find him being cast as one who was consciously constructing his verse, with its profoundly biblical sensibility, as a bulwark against puritan attack. The erudition and sensitivity with which West has set about his task makes his case incontrovertible; he is in complete control of his material and his reading of the poetry in its biblical framework will enable readers to enter more sympathetically into the poet's world and more deeply into his imagination.' -Journal of Theological Studies'West's detailed exposition of the poetry convincingly demonstrates not only the poet's profound knowledge of Scripture, but the extent to which he used it to shape his imagination and inform his verse. This study will be of interest not only to lovers of English poetry but also to anyone wanting to know more about the history of England at a particularly violent and critical period.' -Journal of Theological StudiesThe poems of Henry Vaughan (1622-95), particularly Silex Scintillans, published during the Commonwealth period, are probably the most biblical in English. Philip West's study relates these great works to the wider biblical culture of the 'Godly nation' of the mid-seventeenth century, and reveals the political and devotional styles which underpinned Vaughan's literary achievements.