Question

What does the preface of Silex Scintillans criticize?

• A. The perceived decline in religious devotion.
• B. Contemporary poetry and his own earlier love poems
• C. The overly complex and inaccessible nature of sermons.
• D. The excessive use of classical allusions in sermons.

Answer 1

Answer:

B. Contemporary poetry and his own earlier love poems

• Vaughan’s preface criticizes the poetry of contemporary "wits" as vain.

• He also rejects his own earlier love poems, seeing them as spiritually empty.

• He attributes this shift in view to the influence of George Herbert.