Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Robert Herrick's Poetry

To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time
Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.
The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he's a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he's to setting.
That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.
Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may, go marry:
For having lost but once your prime,
You may for ever tarry.


Delight in Disorder

SWEET disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes a wantonness;
A lawn about the shoulders thrown
Into a fine distraction;
An erring lace, which here and there
Enthrals the crimson stomacher;
A cuff neglectful, and thereby
Ribands to flow confusedly;
A winning wave, deserving note,
In the tempestuous petticoat;
A careless shoe-string, in whose tie
I see a wild civility:
Do more bewitch me, than when art
Is too precise in every part.

The Bracelet: To Julia

WHY I tie about thy wrist,
Julia, this silken twist;
For what other reason is't
But to show thee how, in part,
Thou my pretty captive art?
But thy bond-slave is my heart:

'Tis but silk that bindeth thee,
Knap the thread and thou art free;
But 'tis otherwise with me:
--I am bound and fast bound, so
That from thee I cannot go;
If I could, I would not so.

Another

ERE a pretty baby lies
Sung asleep with lullabies:
Pray be silent and not stir
Th' easy earth that covers her.

Eternitie


YEARES! and Age! Farewell
Behold I go,
Where I do know
Infinitie to dwell.

And these mine eyes shall see
All times, how they
Are lost i’ th’ Sea
Of vast Eternitie.

Where never Moone shall sway
The Starres; but she,
And Night, shall be
Drown’d in one endlesse Day.

10 comments:

  1. Some of these poems are a little hard to understand, I had to read them like 4 times. But what I see in some his poems is joy and comfort,for example "Another." That poem is similar to a prayer, it's almost like he wants her to be safe, and protected. In "The Bracelt" he says alot of postive things in the first 8 lines of the poem, but then he negates his thesis, and changes the whole view about how he really feels. This is differnt from the Spenser poem and the sonnets because usually towards the end of those poems, the poets negtate their thesis and then simply use postive words to support their thesis once again. In that perticular poem Mr.Herrick doesn't suppot his thesis again. He ends that poem with a negative feeling. I noticed that the most in that specific poem. I'm not too sure if this is right, but it would be of good use if you could give me feedback on my comment.

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  2. Julia could snap the silken braclet and thereby
    release herself from her relationship
    so contrived by her lover. She then would be free. She is no captive. The braclet creates an illusion of captivity. The lover is aware of the absurdity of his possessive gift to her. His question, which starts the poem reveals this. The lover is bound by a more permanent bond, and even if he could be released from loving her of his own volition, he would chose not to go. Doth he protest too much? Is he chiding her for her control over him? Who is in bondage and why?

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  3. All poems give a sense of youth it goes from young love to babies resting. Thinking that youth should be taken advantage for and enjoying it while u have it. The poem bracelet:to juliet to me seems like a young lover whom is afraid of commitment like he wants to be with the girl he feels for her but he does not want a visible object that ties them together.Most of these poets write in a way that people our age can relate to some of the different situations that are being presented and discribe.

    Tho i did not understand all the poems the ones that i did understand caught my attention in a good way.
    <3

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  4. My favorite poem out of these is Eternitie. It's short but very interesting. I like how Robert Herrick uses his rhymes not only to make it sound catchy but also to help him convey a message that he is presenting in his poem. Also, I like how he uses masculine rhyme to rhyme "Sea" and "See" and "Eternitie." I've also noticed that in his poem "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time," the rhyme scheme is ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH, which has an interesting effect and shows how much effort he puts in writing his poetry.

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  5. My favorite poems are The Bracelet and To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time. I feel like both of these poems are about young love. In the Bracelet, I feel like the girl is trapped and captured in this relationship with her boyfriend. The bracelet is basically her freedom. In the first poem, it's about time running out and you should do what you have to before it runs out. I think?

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  6. The poem "Another" and "The Bracelet: To Julia" are interesting. "Another" seems to have a relaxing tone. While "The Bracelet: To Julia" has a sense of being traped and wanting to break free.

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  7. Each poem has one common idea:love. Different kinds of love is shown in each poem.

    "To the Virgins,to Make Much of Time" talks about young love up until the line that starts with 'But...'. The lines after 'But...' he talks about love at an older age; that there's a difference between love and lust and how the two differentiate.

    "Delight in Disorder" has a hidden meaning that talks about a relationship with complications. Though he does not use any words implying this, there's enough thought and feeling that was put into the poem to imply this. Even the title implies it.

    "The Bracelet:To Julia" talks about wanting to be with her. In a sense it has a lust feel to it because he used bondage in the poem. It's also saying that he cannot escape her grasp because she has touched his heart and captured it.

    "Another" talks about love to kin. Love for a new life that is born.

    "Eternitie" talks about a love that is lost one that will never fade. He uses metaphysical comparisons to describe how he feels.

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  8. While reading the poem "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" I could picture flashback of the simplier times. Times when we were innocent children with not a care within the world. I thought about going to the beach and eatting icecream; playing hide and seek with my family. This poem is very inspirational, but does give me the thought of death, and the thought of things ending. Like everyone else in this world, no one wants to leave earth spiritally, until they know its time.

    Reading "Delight in Disorder" somehow makes me think of people who enjoy the smaller things within life. For example, they enjoy the nose that comes from zipping up your coat, or the rainbow that shines within their window. Beautiful things like this somehow find a way to hide to the average person. This poem also reminds me of someone with the disease OCD, where everything has to be perfect. I also get a picture of a little girl trying on her mothers clothes and enjoying the feeling of being old.

    When I read "The Bracelet: To Julia", I picture a young man trying to build up the courage to talk to Juila. I feel as if he has been watching her for a while and has fallen in love with her Bracelet because he believes it shows a deeper side to her. Sadly this poem was too short... my mind is thinking of a story to fit this poem.

    The poem "Another" is really amazing, which such a short stanza it can really make a person think. I believe this can also be used as a possible song to sing for a loved one.

    The Poem "Eternitie" is very sad because in an inspirational way it brings up death. This poem makes me think of a place where souls go, like the Farplane, or maybe we are all ment to dwell on earth and haunt others. Im sure everyone has a diffrent veiw on the afterlife.

    From what I read, each poem trys to inspire a person to live, but sadly brings up death. As we talked about in class, its tone is being switched (without the use of a 'but').I liked these poems!!

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  9. I found that reading them aloud myself really did help me understand the poetry.

    I noticed that all these poems were a lot shorter than the poems from Marvell. The first poem, 'To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,' uses a flower rotting, and sunsets to illustrate his point that time should be used wisely, and that virgins should not waste time to marry, as like the flower and the sun, their time will come. Delight in Disorder was hard for me to understand, because it simply seemed to be clothes personified. The Bracelet: Julia is relatable to an unhealthy relationship. 'Another' was very short, but it feels as though it could be from a mother wishing her child to be safe one night. It has a calming affect. Eternitie was perhaps the most complex for me. I found most interested the rhyming pattern of the poem : ABBA CDDC EFFE.

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  10. I really enjoyed "The Bracelet" as well as "To the Virgins..."

    In the Bracelet, he confesses that the bracelet that he gives her is like bond, a tie to keep her close. However, it is silly because she can untie it whenever she wishes. But he cannot stop loving her. He is tied by "the heart" which means that he is so deeply in love that he cannot let her go. He compares the bondages of a bracelet to that of love and the difference is quite significant.

    "To the Virgins..." kind of reminds me of my own culture, in which a women who is past her 30's and is still unmarried is considered strange. It's as though we are in such a rush to get married and have kids because apparently, doing otherwise is wasting your life. However, I find it ironic because a lot of women whom I know and were married and had kids at a young age, say that that was the end of their lives.

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