Herrick, Robert (1591-1674), was one of England’s finest lyric poets. He is best known for his love lyrics to imaginary ladies and graceful poems about nature and English country life. Herrick celebrated the earthy joys of rural life in such poems as “The Argument of His Book” and “To Daffodils.” In “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,” he cleverly adapts the New Testament parable of the 10 virgins to the classical theme of carpe diem (“seize the day”). The poem contains the famous line “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.” Herrick’s lyric poetry reflects the influence of Roman poets and the English poet and playwright Ben Jonson. Herrick’s well-known poem “Corinna’s Going A-Maying” ends with an urgent reminder of human mortality in the lines:
Come, let us go, while we are in our prime, And take the harmless folly of the time! We shall grow old apace, and die Before we know our liberty. Our life is short, and our days run As fast away as does the sun. And as a vapour or a drop of rain, Once lost, can ne’er be found again: So when or you or I are made A fable, song, or fleeting shade, All love, all liking, all delight Lies drowned with us in endless night. Then, while time serves, and we are but decaying, Come, my Corinna, come, let’s go a-Maying.
Herrick was born in August 1591 in London. He was ordained in the Church of England in 1623 and served as a vicar (minister of a parish) in the rural county of Devonshire (now Devon). Herrick’s poems were widely known in manuscript form before being published in the collection Hesperides (1648). The volume includes a section of religious poetry called Noble Numbers. Herrick died in October 1674.
See also “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time.
