Platonism in English poetry of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries

by John Smith Harrison

Vaughan, Henry. “Poems,” edited by E. K. Chambers, with an introduction by H. C. Beeching. 2 vols. London and New York, 1896.

Walton, Izaak. “Complete Angler and the Lives of Donne, Wotton, Hooker, Herbert, and Sanderson.” London, 1901.

Ward, Henry. “Life of Henry More.” London, 1710.

Whittaker, Thomas. “The Neo-Platonists: a Study in the History of Hellenism.” Cambridge, 1901.

INDEX

• Absence, effect of, in love, [143], [144], [145], [146], [148].
• Acrasia, a type of sensual beauty, [20];
  • captured by Guyon, [21].
• Adam, [43], [44], [83].
• Amavia, [24].
• “Anatomy of the World, An,” [162], [165].
• “Answer to the Platonicks,” [162].
• “Anti-monopsychia,” [194], [196].
• “Anti-Platonick” (Cleveland’s), [162].
• “Anti-Platonick” (Daniel’s), [159].
• “Anti-psychopannychia,” [194], [195].
• “Apology for Smectymnuus, An,” [47].
• “Arcadia,” [66].
• Archimago, [14].
• ἀρετή, identification of Una with, [2].
• Ariosto, [26], [39].
• Arthegal, his reverence for Britomart, [35], [37], [38], [40];
  • his training in justice, [28].
• Arthur, as heavenly grace, [3], [62];
  • his relation to the Red Cross Knight, [62];
  • his function in scheme of “Faerie Queene,” [62].
• Astræa, [27].
• “Barriers, The,” [125].
• Baxter, [92].
• Beauty, in Ficino, [109], [112], [113], [114];
  • in Plato, [34], [35], [220];
  • in Milton, [41];
  • in Spenser, [35],38, [41], [109], [111], [112], [113], [220], [221].
  • of beloved, its relation to absolute beauty, in George Daniel, [131];
    • in Ficino, [115];
    • in Shakespeare, [128], [134], [135];
    • in Spenser, [32]–34, [115], [130], [136].
  • earthly, [79], [80].
  • heavenly, a fundamental doctrine of Platonism, [1], [103];
    • identified as wisdom, [73];
    • as beauty of intelligible world, [76].
• “Beauty,” [86].
• Beelzebub, [58].
• Being, true, [98].
• Belphœbe, [5].
• Bower of Bliss, [21].
• Boyle, Robert, [158].
• Bradamante, [39].
• Britomart, [35], [36]–38.
• “Cælica,” [138].
• Calidore, [46].
• “Cantos of Mutabilitie,” [217].
• Carew, Thomas, [158].
• Cartwright, William, [162].
• Charles I, [156].
• Charleton, Walter, [157].
• Chastity, Milton’s idea of, [47], [48], [54], [55], [56].
• Christ, mystical love of, [92], [93], [94], [95], [96], [97], [99];
  • as true being, [98];
  • Milton’s idea of, [180], [181].
• “Christ’s Triumph after Death,” [100]–103.
• Cleveland, John, [161], [162].
• “Colin Clouts Come Home Againe,” [122].
• “Commentarium in Convivium,” on love, [107], [108], [115], [116], [121];
  • on beauty, [109], [110], [112], [113], [114];
  • its interpretation of Plato, [140].
• “Comus,” effect of sensuality on soul taught in, [49];
  • chastity in, [48], [49], [56];
  • doctrine of grace in, [63], [64];
  • parallelism with “Phædo,” [49], n. 1.
• Comus, his attempts on The Lady, [51]–54;
  • his character, [53].
• “Corruption,” [205], [206].
• “Court-Platonicke,” [159].
• Cowley, Abraham, [161], [162].
• Craig, Alexander, [138].
• Crashaw, Richard, [97], [99], [138].
• Daniel, George, [131], [158].
• Daniel, Samuel, [138].
• D’Avenant, William, [156].
• Diodati, Charles, [41].
• Donne, John, mysticism in, [94];
  • love in, [141], [144], [145], [149], [51], [152], [153], [154];
  • his idea of woman, [163], [164], [165].
• Drayton, Michael, [125], [138].
• “Dream, The,” [153].
• Drummond, William, his idea of God, [174], [175], [176], [183];
  • his idea of love, [82], [88], [132];
  • his idea of heavenly love, [76], [81];
  • appeal of Platonism to, [76];
  • his idea of happiness, [86];
  • his idea of rest, [87].
• Dryden, John, [165].
• Duessa, [66].
• “Ecstacy, The,” [141].
• Elissa, [22].
• “Enneads,” see under Plotinus.
• “Epithalamion,” [31], [32], [33].
• “Epithalamy,” [162].
• “Epode,” [151].
• Eve, [44], [45].
• “Faerie Queene,” Christianity and Platonic idealism in, [1];
  • its teaching on holiness, [1];
  • its teaching on temperance, see under Guyon;
  • Platonic ethics in, [26], [39];
  • its allegorical scheme, [26];
  • its unity, [29], [30];
  • beauty of mind in, [33];
  • function of grace in, [62], [63].
• “Fever, A,” [164].
• Ficino, see under “Commentarium in Convivium.”
• Fidelia, [3].
• Fletcher, Giles, [100], [101], [102], [103].
• Fletcher, Phineas, [83], [97].
• Florimell, [66].
• “Forerunners, The,” [90].
• “Friendship in Absence,” [161].
• Furor, [16].
• “Garden of Adonis,” [213]–216.
• God, as lover of His own beauty, [68], [69];
  • as The Good, [70], [86];
  • union of soul with, [100]–103;
  • as “Idea Beatificall,” [102];
  • as source of beauty, [109], [180];
  • as Creator, [110];
  • and the three Platonian hypostases, [172];
  • as king, [174], [175], [176];
  • as philosophical principle, [176]–178.
• Good, The, [169].
• “Gorgias,” on temperance, [24].
• Grace, doctrine of, its connection with ideal of holiness, [61]–63;
  • its connection with ideal of chastity, [63], [64];
  • its connection with ideal of temperance, [62], [63];
  • represented by Arthur, [62].
• Greville, Fulke, [138].
• Guyon, his adventures, [13];
  • his struggles with wrath, [14]–18;
  • his struggles with sensual desire, [18]–21;
  • character of his life, [24];
  • his praise of beauty of mind, [34];
  • his relation to Arthur, [62].
• Habington, William, [147].
• Heaven, [92].
• Henrietta, Maria, [156], [157].
• Herbert, Edward, Lord Herbert, [146], [159].
• Herbert, George, [71], [89], [90], [93].
• Heywood, Thomas, [156].
• Holiness, Platonism and, [10];
  • its connection with the doctrine of grace, [62].
• Holy Spirit, identified with Psyche, [170].
• Howell, James, [155], [156], [157].
• Hudibras, [22].
• “Hymn of Fairest Fair, An,” [174]–179, [183], [184].
• “Hymne in Honour of Beautie, An,” [106], [109]–117, [118].
• “Hymne in Honour of Love, An,” [105], [107], [108], [118], [121].
• “Hymne of Heavenly Love,” [68], [69], [73], [74], [75], [76], [95], [96].
• “Hymne of Heavenly Beautie,” [185], [186].
• “Hymne of True Happiness, An,” [86].
• Hypostases, the Plotinian, [167], [176], [177].
• Idea, Platonic notion of, [95];
  • connection with mysticism, [95], [101];
  • term used as title, [138].
• “Idea Beatificall,” [102].
• Intellect, The, identified with God, [175];
  • defined, [170], [180];
  • identified with Christ, [170].
• Intelligible world, [77], [78], [81].
• “In the Glorious Epiphanie of Our Lord God,” [97]–99.
• Ithuriel, [59].
• Jonson, [122], [123], [151].
• “Jordan,” [91].
• Joy, in religious experience, [85];
  • and the beatific vision, [88].
• Justice, Spenser’s conception of, [27], [28];
  • Plato’s conception, [28];
  • identical with temperance, [28].
• Lady, The, in “Comus,” effect of spells of Comus on, [53];
  • her response to Comus, [54];
  • her conception of chastity, [54], [56].
• Linche, Richard, [138].
• Love, nativity of the god of, [120], [121], [122], [123], [124];
  • treatment of, in Donne, [149]–151, [152]–155;
  • in Drayton, [125], [126];
  • in Ficino, [107], [108], [115], [116];
  • in Habington, [147];
  • in Jonson, [123], [124], [125], [151];
  • in Milton, [41], [47], [82], [83];
  • in Plato, [34], [35], [120];
  • in Spenser, [34], [107]–109, [115]–118, [120], [122];
  • in Vaughan, [132], [133].
  • earthly, [83], [88].
  • heavenly, defined, [67], [72], [73], [84];
    • in Spenser, [75];
    • in Drummond, [81].
  • Platonic, its rise at court, [155], [156];
    • defined, [155], [156], [160];
    • ridiculed, [156], [157];
    • described Lord Herbert, [159], [160];
    • in Stanley, [158];
    • in Vaughan, [158];
    • its immorality, [158].
• “Love,” [71].
• “Love Freed from Ignorance and Folly,” [124], [125].
• Lovelace, Richard, [161].
• “Love’s Growth,” [152].
• “Love’s Innocence,” [158].
• “Love’s Mistress or the Queen’s Masque,” [156].
• “Love’s Triumph through Callipolis,” [123], [124].
• Mammon, [19].
• Margaret of Valois, [156], [157].
• “Masque of Beauty, The,” [122], [123].
• Matter, in Plato, [211], [215];
  • in Plotinus, [210], [211], [215];
  • in Spenser, [212].
• Mean, the Aristotelean doctrine of the, described, [21], [22];
  • in Spenser, [22], [23].
• Milton, John, his notion of woman, [40], [41], [44];
  • his treatment of Eve, [44], [45];
  • his love of beauty, [41], [44], [64], [65];
  • his debt to Platonic philosophy, [47];
  • his idealism, [47], [48], [55], [57], [61];
  • his conception of sin, [49], [57], [58];
  • hold of Platonism on, [40], [47], [55], [56], [57], [61], [64], [65];
  • his idea of chastity, [47], [48], [54], [55];
  • doctrine of grace in, [63], [64];
  • his idea of beauty, [64];
  • his idea of love, [82], [83];
  • his idea of God, [180];
  • his idea of Christ, [180].
• More, Henry, mysticism in, [99], [196], [199];
  • his idea of the Trinity, [168], [173];
  • his idea of soul, [187]–193;
  • his idea of Christ, [170];
  • his idea of the Holy Spirit, [170]–174;
  • religious feeling in, [182], [201];
  • his argument for immortality, [187]–193;
  • hold of Platonism on, [193], [202];
  • on innate ideas, [195].
• Mysticism, erotic, defined, [92], [93];
  • in George Herbert, [93];
  • in Donne, [94];
  • its connection with Platonism, [95];
  • relation of love of Christ to, [95]–103.
• “Negative Love,” [153]–155.
• “Nicomachean Ethics,” [22].
• “No Platonique Love,” [162].
• Norris, John, [86], [87], [89], [157].
• One, The, [153], [169], [179].
• “Orlando Furioso,” [38], [39].
• Palmer, The, [17], [20], [21], [25].
• “Paradise Lost,” [49], [58].
• “Paradise Regained,” [42].
• Pastorella, [46].
• Petrarchism, defined, [105], [126];
  • influence of Platonism on, [105], [127].
• Perissa, [22].
• “Phædo,” on the function of philosophy, [8];
  • on effect of sense knowledge on soul, [48], [49] n. 1, [50], [55];
  • on the super-sensible world, [77], [78], [81] n. 1.
• Phædria, [18].
• “Phædrus,” on the beauty of wisdom, [4], [127];
  • on love, [8], [34], [35];
  • on beauty of virtue, [4], [127], [220];
  • on reminiscence, [11], [57], [203], [206], [207];
  • on sight of true beauty, [57];
  • on beauty, [220].
• “Philebus,” on goodness, [61].
• “Piscatorie Eclogues,” [83].
• “Platonick, The,” [161].
• “Platonic Elegy, A,” [143].
• “Platonic Love” (Ayres’s), [161];
  • (Aytoun’s) 161.
• “Platonick Love (Cowley’s), [162];
  • (Cleveland’s), [162];
  • (Lord Herbert’s), [159], [160].
• “Platonic Lovers,” [156].
• Platonism, fundamental principle of, [1], [3], [30];
  • its relation to ideal of holiness, [10];
  • its part in religious experience, [12], [71], [72], [85], [91], [92], [181], [183];
  • its relation to ethics of “Faerie Queene,” [26], [30];
  • its connection with doctrine of grace, [61];
  • its relation to doctrine of heavenly love, [67], [68];
  • its appeal to sense of beauty, [85];
  • its influence on erotic mysticism, [95]–104;
  • its influence on love poetry, [104];
  • its relation to morality of love, [136], [137], [138];
  • its influence on discussion of love, [140], [141];
  • its three hypostases, [167];
  • its effect on theology, [167];
  • its attraction for the religious mind, [183], [193], [194], [201], [202], [216], [218], [219].
  • Italian, appeal of, to Spenser, [117], [118];
    • its æsthetic theory, [139];
    • its debt to Plotinus, [140];
    • its relation to Plato, [140];
    • its debt to Ficino, [140].
• Plotinus, “Enneads” of, on the intelligible world, [77];
  • on The Good, [153], [154], [169], [181];
  • on the hypostases, [167];
  • on soul, [170], [171];
  • on intellect, [170];
  • on The One, [176], [177], [181], [194];
  • on inter-relation of the hypostases, [177], [180];
  • on matter, [179], [211];
  • on immortality, [187].
• “Prayer for Mankind,” [184].
• “Prospect,” [87].
• “Psychathanasia,” idea of creation in, [70];
  • mysticism in, [99], [194];
  • immortality in, [187]–193;
  • The One in, [197], [198], [199].
• Psyche, [170], [171], [172].
• “Psychozoia,” idea of the Trinity in, [168];
  • religious feeling in, [183].
• “Pure Platonicke,” [159].
• “Purple Island,” [97].
• Pyrochles, [17], [18].
• Randolph, Thomas, [143].
• Red Cross Knight, his sight of Una’s beauty, [7], [9], [10], [11];
  • on Mount of Contemplation, [8], [9], [10], [11], [62];
  • training in House of Holiness, [10];
  • slandered, [14];
  • character of, [15];
  • Arthur’s relation to, [62].
• “Republic,” on the good, [8];
  • on temperance, [13], [14], [28];
  • on principles within soul, [13];
  • on justice, [28];
  • on imitative art, [91] n. 1;
  • on truth and opinion, [125].
• Reminiscence, theory of, in Vaughan, [203], [204]–206, [207], [208];
  • in Plato, [203], [206].
• “Retreat, The,” [203], [204], [206].
• Ruggiero, [39].
• Sans Loy, [23].
• Satan, his love of beauty, [42], [43]–46;
  • his sight of Eden, [43];
  • contemplating Adam and Eve, [43], [44], [46];
  • his regret for lost beauty, [58], [59], [60].
• Satyrane, [3].
• Sedley, Charles, [161].
• “Seraphick Love,” [89].
• Shakespeare, [128], [129], [134], [135].
• Sidney, Algernon, [157].
• Sidney, Philip, on beauty of virtue, [66];
  • on heavenly love, [84], [85];
  • on Stella and virtue, [127];
  • on Plato, [137].
• Song—“If you refuse me once,” [161].
• Song II—“It Autumn was, and on our hemisphere,” [76], [77], [79]–81, [81] n. 1.
• Song, “To a Lady,” [158].
• Song, “To Amoret,” [133].
• σοφια, Una identified with, [2].
• σωφροσύνη, Plato’s idea of, [12].
• Soul, three principles in the, [13];
  • effect of sensuous experience on the, [48], [50], [51];
  • its self-sufficiency, [61];
  • its union with God, [89], [100]–103;
  • its formative energy, [113], [114];
  • union of, in love, [141], [143];
  • defined, [187], [192], [193];
  • where found, [188];
  • a self-moving substance, [188];
  • immortality of, [189], [190], [191], [192];
  • its identity after death, [195],196;
  • universal, identified with woman, [164];
  • defined, [170], [171].
• “Soul’s Joy,” [144].
• Spenser, Edmund, Platonism in, [3], [5], [7], [21], [22], [31], [35], [39], [117], [218], [220];
  • his idea of beauty, [4], [32], [33], [65], [66];
  • his idea of justice, [27];
  • his idea of temperance, [23], [24], [25];
  • his idea of virtue, [27], [29];
  • his idea of a gentleman, [29];
  • his idea of love, [31], [108];
  • his idea of heavenly love, [75];
  • his æsthetics, [109]–117;
  • identifies beloved with idea of beauty, [130], [136];
  • on his hymns, [139];
  • his idea of matter, [212];
  • his world weariness, [216].
• Stanley, Thomas, [158].
• Suckling, John, [161].
• Sylvanus, [6].
• “Symposium,” on wisdom, [8];
  • its dialectic 8, [75];
  • on beauty of mind, [31];
  • on nativity of love, [68], [120];
  • interpreted by Ficino, [107], [140];
  • on generation and immortality, [119], [120].
• “Teares on the Death of Mœliades,” [87], [88].
• Temperance, Plato’s idea of, [12], [13], [14], [23];
  • Spenser’s idea of, [23], [24], [25];
  • and justice, [28];
  • connection with heavenly grace, [62].
• “Temple of Love,” [156].
• “Theologia Germanica,” [168].
• θνμός, [13].
• “Timæus,” on creation, [70];
  • on Creator, [110];
  • on flux, [211], [212].
• “To Amoret. Walking in a Starry Evening,” [132].
• “To Cinthia, Converted,” [159].
• “To Cinthia, coying it,” [159].
• “To Cloris, a Rapture,” [161].
• “To Lucasta, Going beyond the Seas,” [161].
• “To my Mistress in Absence,” [161].
• “To the Countess of Huntingdon,” [149], [151], [163].
• “To the Platonicke Pretender,” [159].
• “To the World. The Perfection of Love,” [147].
• Trinity, The, identified with Plotinian hypostases, [168]–174;
  • its unity, [176].
• Una, identified with σοφία, and ἀρετή, [2];
  • identified with truth, [2], [3];
  • guides Red Cross Knight to Fidelia’s school, [3];
  • presented as true beauty, [3]–10.
• “Urania,” [88].
• “Valediction Forbidding Mourning,” [145].
• Vaughan, Henry, his idea of love, [132], [133], [148];
  • his idea of Platonic love, [158];
  • his idea of preëxistence, [203].
• Virtue, Plato’s idea of, [27];
  • a manifold of graces, [27];
  • its beauty, [127];
  • identified with woman, [163].
• Vision, beatific, described as rest, [87];
  • as joy, [88].
• Wisdom, the highest beauty, [4];
  • beauty of, [4], [10];
  • seen only by soul, [8];
  • sight of, quickening imagination, [10], [11];
  • identified with heavenly beauty, [73];
  • subject of “Hymne of Heavenly Beautie,” [73], [74].
• “Wishes, The,” [138].
• “World, The,” [206], [207], [208], [210].
• Woman, her inward beauty, [31];
  • attraction of, [162];
  • identified as virtue, [163];
  • as universal soul, [164].
• Zephon, [59], [60].

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[1]. Cf. Pub. of Mod. Lang. Ass. of Amer., 1897, p. 177, “Spenser’s Imitations from Ariosto.”

[2]. Masson, Life of Milton, I. 600.

[3]. Milton, Prose Works, I. 225.