By: Robert Herrick
PowerPoint by: Camille Smart
To the Virgins to Make Much of Time
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.
About the Poem
This poem can be viewed in two ways.
1. Such as the man is persuading this woman to
express herself sexually before it is to late.
2. It can also be viewed as Herrick trying to
persuade girls to marry while they are young,
so they can enjoy the whole fullness of life
with someone.
3. But the poem is more expressed as being
sexually active while you are young, and not
waiting to long.
Expressing herself
GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old time is still a-flying:(1)
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,(2)
The sooner will his race be run,(3)
And nearer he’s to setting.
That age is best which is the first,(4)
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,(5)
And while ye may go marry;(6)
For having lost but once your prime(7)
You may for ever tarry.(8)
(1) Hurry up, time is flying
(2) The day is growing old
(3) Sun is setting & the day is almost
over
(4) Better to do stuff when you are
young
(5) Give into your passion
(6) Do what you want to do
(7) Don’t wait to long or you will be out
of your prime
(8) If you wait to long then you will
never get to express yourself
Coy- pretending shy, reluctant to make
a commitment
Tarry- to be tardy
Symbols
In this poem, the man is speaking to the woman
The title emphasizes much by meaning, A virgin takes to much
time
Tarry is a strong word in this story meaning, to be tardy. This
word makes the poem say not to wait to long or you won’t
have any time left. You will never have time to express
yourself afterwards or do what you want.
An alliteration is “The higher he’s a-getting”. The “h”
emphasizes each other
Another alliteration is “…But being spent, the worse, and the
worst…”. The “w” are expressed together
One symbol in the story is in the second paragraph when he
states “…the sun,…..the sooner will his race be run, and
nearer he’s to setting.” This symbols that time is almost over
and she will be cut short
Robert Herrick was born in London in
1591
Herrick wrote poems on morality and
death, fortune and fate,
poverty and riches,
flowers, love and
mistress, and he
even wrote 63
known poems
about his love Julia.
Herrick has written over 1200
poems
Personal Views
I thought this poem
portrayed a
negative aspect.
People do
want to know the
experience of being
with someone but there
is also the point that you
need to wait until the right moment and the right
time. This is a good poem but it does seem a little
negative. Also consider that the way he wrote the
poem seems to say that he doesn’t want anything but
to sleep with her.
Interesting Facts about Robert Herrick
Herrick could have been considered an obsessed man about his love for Julia. Some of
the poems he written about her consist of:
•On Julia’s Breath
•His Last Request to Julia
•Upon Julia’s Breasts
•Upon Julia’s Sweat
•Upon His Julia
•The Candour of Julia’s
•Her Bed
Teeth
•Her Legs
•Upon Her Weeping
•Upon the nipples of
•Another Upon Her Weeping
Julia’s Breast
•Upon the Roses in
Julia’s Bosom