v.
born April 17, 1622, Llansantffraed, Breconshire, Wales
died April 23, 1695, Llansantffraed
Anglo-Welsh poet and mystic.
Vaughan studied law but from the 1650s practiced medicine. After writing two volumes of secular poems, he read the religious poet George Herbert and gave up "idle verse." He is chiefly remembered for the spiritual vision or imagination evident in his fresh and convincing religious verse and is considered one of the major practitioners of Metaphysical poetry . Works that reveal the depth of his religious convictions include Silex Scintillans (1650, enlarged 1655; "The Glittering Flint") and the prose Mount of Olives (1652). He also translated short moral and religious works and two medical works.