Do You Hear the Cock Crow?

The poem, "Cock-Crowing" by Henry Vaughan is a piece that mixes spiritual and natural imagery to tell of the ordeals of man's journey as he tries to identify spiritually with the things around him. While describing these ordeals the speaker finds conflict in the natural world that keeps him from seeing where the journey is going.

The poem is started with an image of a rooster crowing in the morning sun. The reason for the rooster crowing is given in idea of a seed. The seed something that is placed into corporeal beings, human or animal, that draws them to the source of the seed. A piece of divine light or a piece of the sun is described as the sunny seed for the rooster. The original source and the seed are then drawn to one another. This is described as spiritual magnetism.

"'Magnetism' refers to the attraction between the cock's 'seed' and its source, the sun." (Norton Anthology, 1625, footnote 2)

This seed is heavenly and works inside the rooster all the time. It waits for the sun dreaming of the heavens. The second stanza continues describing how the rooster is a bird of light and that it expels darkness for the path to heaven, as read in lines nine to ten. The rooster considered a spiritual consort with man is not a new idea in religion.

"The fact that the early Church used the rooster as a funeral ornament and that the bird is mentioned in epitaphic verse is, consequently not surprising; he is not only the bird of light, but a symbol of the eternal light that guides and protects the souls of the dead." (Rudrum, p. 82)

Vaughan continues the notion of the rooster being the bird of eternal light by explaining that it has a seed of the sun that allows it to open dark paths for souls. But in this notion Vaughan finds a conflict between man and the bird. For man just as animal the "seed" is something innate, for man this piece of the divine is like that of a tincture. Vaughan uses the alchemical term to solidify the connection of man and the divine. Now the speaker comes to question the circumstances of the world. He contends that the divine is a natural part of him and that he was made in God's image, and he also is alive because of the breathe of God. If all that is true then why does he not see the coming of judgment?

"How far, then, must he have fallen from his proper dignity if now he finds the creatures closer to their Maker than he!" (Durr, p. 33)

In the fourth stanza Vaughan introduces the natural imagery and mixes it with the spiritual notion of the seed. We will see later in the poem that man is likened to a flower. Here in this stanza the divine light of God is described as the sun. His light shines through the universe and thus man can see that he is one with his creator. The seed then takes on a dual role. It acts in one fashion as the spiritual seed of God, but it also symbolizes the soul as a flower, starting in seed form and eventually growing into a flower.

But the speaker then talks of the ordeals of his spiritual growth. The rooster is given the divine light of the sun and is able to see fully the intentions of God in that light. He contends that man is denied that light and suffers for it. His inability to receive the light is likened to the darkness cast on Egypt by Moses. This darkness is too thick to break and starves man of the light needed to grow spiritually. This stanza alludes to the natural side of man's spiritual journey. The darkness that is felt by man in absence of the divine light alludes to clouds that allow for glimpses of the sun every once in a while. Man is starved of light but not killed for lack of nourishment.

The next stanza describes the soul and it's final journey. It is sent in flight and given to the rooster for the duration. The rooster becomes the protector of souls from early Christian myth. Taking the imagery of the earlier stanzas about the rooster crowing to wake people for the coming of the light and how they expel darkness for the soul, the rooster is a sign for the final judgment.

"The singing cock awakens men from spiritual slumber, warning them of the coming splendour." (Rudrum, p. 83)

This stanza continues the conflict that the speaker has with nature. He questions why our souls can be given to birds when it is only the Almighty who can track their progress. The question of how animals are better than man is still not resolved. The speaker sounds more jealous than in any other part of the poem. He cannot understand that the rooster is the sign for the final judgment and is needed to guide man on the last part of his spiritual journey. But the speaker continues wanting the divine light without realizing that he must wait until the judgment. Vaughan continues the physical side by representing the veil as a cloud that masks the light. Again God is symbolized as the sun and can only be seen through breaks in the cloud during life.

The veil that he mentions in the penultimate stanza is the flesh of man. It echoes Hebrews 10:20 where Jesus' flesh consecrated us a new living way. We see that this veil that keeps us from the light of God is the very corporeal body that we need to live. This is the reason why we only see quick glimpses of spiritual light and are not and not fully nourished. The speaker wants it taken away so he may fully feel God's love. He argues for it in an interesting way. The speaker alludes to his soul as physical again. His spiritual growth is not finished; it cannot be finished until it basks in God's full light. He contends that the flower of man's soul is grown but not fully grown enough for God's glory.

The speaker does not realize that this veil will stay with him until the last judgment, and it is this very veil placed on us by God that blocks us from God. It is our more complex nature and the seed of God that block us from seeing God. There is no reconciliation in his own nature, no realization of just how he is.

"What comes from God is thus returned to him." (Rudrum, p. 82)

The seed of God in man insures that he will return to God, but because there is no reconciliation with the world the speaker is lost and questions the things around him.

Vaughan has described man's ordeals during his spiritual journey with both natural and religious/spiritual imagery. He also discusses the implications between the natural and spiritual sides of life and how man reacts to it. Man without nourishment from God will question his role and the development of his soul. We see in the reaction of the speaker that the natural side of life cannot effectively coincide with the spiritual without causing conflict in the spiritual quest of man.