Robert Herrick (poet)

Robert Herrick (baptized 24 August 1591 – buried 15 October

1674) was a 17th Robert Herrick
century English poet.

Biography
Early life

Born in Cheapside,
London, he was the
seventh child and
fourth son of Nicholas
Herrick, a prosperous
goldsmith, who fell out
of a window when
Robert was a year old Robert Herrick, illustration based on Hesperides impression.
(whether this was Born
baptised 24 August 1591
suicide remains Cheapside, London, England
unclear). The tradition buried 15 October 1674 (aged 83)
Died
that Herrick received Dean Prior, Devon, England
his education at Occupatio
Poet and clergyman
Westminster is n
groundless. It is more likely that (like his uncle's children) he
attended The Merchant Taylors' School. In 1607 he became
apprenticed to his uncle, Sir William Herrick, who was a goldsmith
and jeweller to the king. The apprenticeship ended after only six
years when Herrick, at age twenty-two, matriculated at St John's
College, Cambridge. He graduated in 1617. Robert Herrick became a
member of the Sons of Ben, a group centered upon an admiration
for the works of Ben Jonson. Herrick took holy orders in 1623, and
became vicar of Dean Prior in Devonshire, but lost his position
because of his Royalist bent.

Restoration and later life

When King Charles II was restored to the throne in 1660, Herrick

petitioned for his own restoration to his living. Perhaps King Charles
felt kindly towards this genial man, who had written verses
celebrating the births of both Charles II and his brother James before
the Civil War. Herrick became the vicar of Dean Prior again in the
summer of 1662 and lived there until his death in October 1674, at
the ripe age of 83. His date of death is not known, but he was buried
on 15 October. Herrick was a bachelor all his life, and many of the
women he names in his poems are thought to be fictional.
Poetic style and stature
His reputation rests on Hesperides, and the much shorter Noble
Numbers, spiritual works, published together in 1648. He is well-
known for his style and, in his earlier works, frequent references to
lovemaking and the female body. His later poetry was more of a
spiritual and philosophical nature. Among his most famous short
poetical sayings are the unique monometers, such as "Thus I / Pass
by / And die,/ As one / Unknown / And gone."

Herrick sets out his subject-matter in the poem he printed at the

beginning of his collection, The Argument of his Book. He dealt with
English country life and its seasons, village customs, complimentary
poems to various ladies and his friends, themes taken from classical
writings and a solid bedrock of Christian faith, not intellectualized
but underpinning the rest.

Herrick never married, and none of his love-

poems seem to connect directly with any
one beloved woman. He loved the richness
of sensuality and the variety of life, and this
is shown vividly in such poems as Cherry-
ripe, Delight in Disorder and Upon Julia’s
Clothes.

The over-riding message of Herrick’s work is

that life is short, the world is beautiful, love
is splendid, and we must use the short time
we have to make the most of it. This
message can be seen clearly in To the Virgins, to make much of
Time, To Daffodils, To Blossoms and Corinna going a-Maying, where
the warmth and exuberance of what seems to have been a kindly
and jovial personality comes over strongly.

The opening stanza in one of his more famous poems, "To the
Virgins, to Make Much of Time", is as follows:

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today,
Tomorrow will be dying.

(In Elizabethan slang, "dying" referred both to mortality and to

orgasm.) This poem is an example of the carpe diem genre; the
popularity of Herrick's poems of this kind helped revive the genre.
His poems were not widely popular at the time they were published.
His works were rediscovered in the early nineteenth century, and
have been regularly printed ever since.
The Victorian poet Swinburne described Herrick as the greatest
song writer...ever born of English race. It is certainly true that
despite his use of classical allusions and names, his poems are
easier for modern readers to understand than those of many of his
contemporaries.