Critically analyze the religious and didactic elements in Henry Vaughan's "The World."

The religious and didactic (instructing) elements are one in "The World," for in this poem, the speaker is teaching us to avoid the snares of the earthly in order to attain what is far superior, the heavenly and eternal realm of God's salvation.
Vaughn contrasts the two worlds by using imagery that exalts the heavenly while denigrating the worldly. For example, the eternal is pictured as "pure," "calm," "bright," and filled with an everlasting light. These simple words describe a place of perfect harmony and evoke a sense of peace.
The imagery, however, that describes earthly pursuits—such as lust, politics, power, and hoarding wealth—is uneasy, ugly, and unharmonious. Vaughn uses words such as "hurled" and "complain" about the earth and images such as "sour delights," "prey," "gnats and flies," and "blood and tears" to describe what seem to many to be earthly prizes. He teaches us to despise ambition and the material goods of the world as sordid.
In the final stanza, the speaker refers to the scramble for the worldly as a form of "madness" but explains that the bridegroom (Christ) shares his peace and light with those who come and join him as his bride. Salvation is available, but only to those who turn from the world and accept God's gifts.