Poetry Explication
To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time
By Robert Herrick
Voice
 Who is speaking?
A male with wisdom or regrets
 How would you characterize the speaker?
Perhaps a bit moralistic
 What is the speaker’s tone?
Urgent, warning
 Why is he or she speaking?
Either to win a young woman’s affection or to warn young
people to live life outloud
Word Choice, Word Order
 What type of diction is the poet employing?
Imperative: almost a command
 How does the poet’s word choice affect the meaning of the poem, the tone?
It seems to be a bit bossy and negative and definitely chauvinistic but maybe
realistic for the time period when people died young and unmarried women
had no place in society.
 Figures of speech?
 Metaphor “Gather ye Rosebuds” “Glorious lamp” “Race will be run” ; Extended
metaphor the rising sun to the setting sun)
 Personification (smiling and dying flowers, Time)
 Does the word order impact the reading or meaning of the poem? It effects the
rhyme scheme and the rhythm. The poem has a definite beat with powerful
ideas at the end of each line. The last stanza moves away from figurative
language to a no-nonsense message.
Imagery
 Descriptive passages?
 Warm blood of youth; wasting time
 What senses are being appealed to?
 Sight, touch
 Dominant impression is being made?
 That of the swiftness of time through the images
 Relationship of images to speaker’s state of mind?
 Show his sense of urgency or maybe regret?
 Sense of time of day? Day to night Season? Flowers blooming to dying Atmosphere?
While the subject matter is somewhat dark, the bouncing tone gives in kind of a fun and
playful tone.
 Mood? Positive to negative
 Progression of images?
 The images move from fresh, young, and light, to wilted, old, and dark
Sound
 An obvious meter or rhythm?
 Sing-song; nursery rhyme like
 What sounds are emphasized by the rhyme scheme?
 End rhymes are emphasized: contrast (may, flying; today,
dying) rising sun vs. setting sun
 Are there sight rhythms? Slant rhythms? Alliteration?
Assonance? Worse, worst
Structure
 Is the poem in a closed or open form?
 Closed: very structured
 Is the poem presented in a traditional form?
 Traditional and not free verse
 Is there a pattern of end-rhymes? A syllabic line count? A set
metrical pattern?
 Pattern abab/ cdcd/efef/ghgh
 How are the stanzas arranged?
 The message builds with each stanza with the main point in
the last stanza
Theme
What seems to be the point of the poem?
Take advantage of opportunities while they are still available.
 What ideas are being communicated by the speaker? The speaker is
communicating the ideas that young girls should not play hard to
get but find love when it is available.
 How are the ideas being reinforced by the elements of the poem?
 The combination of images, metaphor, personification and
arrangement of the stanzas give examples of how time can pass
quickly if one does not take advantage of what’s available.
Other Factors to Consider
 Is this poem a lyric or a narrative or other?
 Does the poem employ the use of symbol, allegory, allusion,
or myth?
 The poem is a lyric poem, so there is not a plot. The symbols
for the passing time include the sun, the rosebuds, youth, and
losing one’s prime.