A Short Summary of the poem, "To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time" by Robert Herrick

To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time by Robert Herrick

About the poet:

Robert Herrick is a 17th century English lyric poet. He is best known for his book of poems Hesperides. He has written more than 2500 poems during his lifetime. Herrick loved the richness and variety of human life. He wrote on pastoral themes dealing with life in the English countryside and village customs. His poems are easier to understand than the poems of most of his contemporaries.


Summary of the Poem:

The present poem is taken from Hesperides. It belongs to a group of poems which are called the ‘carpe diem’ poems. These poems focus on the shortness of human life and appeal us to do the things immediately. These poems encourage people to make the best use of time available to them and the opportunities that come their way.

In this poem the poet or the speaker is speaking to maidens but his message is universal and it is for all the people. The poem is short having sixteen lines divided into four stanzas. The poem has unique rhyme scheme in all the stanzas, that is abab.

In the first stanza, the speaker advises maidens to work continuously without wasting time. He feels that the time is moving fast and once gone it will never come back. So, the girls should gather the rosebuds which are fresh today but the same rosebuds will be withered tomorrow.

In the second stanza, the speaker uses metaphor when he calls the sun as ‘the glorious Lamp of  Heaven’. As the sun moves from east to west, the time passes. Once the moments are lost they cannot be regained.

In the third stanza, the speaker speaks about the best stage in human life, that is, youth. In this stage only human beings have the power to do anything. If we spend our youth in doing negative things, our adult and old life will be the worst. So, the girls should spend their youth in doing the right things only.

In the last stanza, the speaker advises maidens not to be shy. They should use their time wisely. They should marry in their youth because once this prime time of life is lost, it will never come back and there will be delay for all the things in life.


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