Analysis of To Virgins, to Make Much of Time

Robert Herrick 1591 (London) – 1674 (Dean Prior)



Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old time is still a-flying
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow 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 forever tarry.


Scheme ABAB CBCB DEDE FGFG
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 1011111 1111010 011101101 011110 0100111001 0101010 01011111 0101110 11111101 1101110 11010101 1101010 11111111 0111110 11011111 1101010
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 515
Words 98
Sentences 5
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 99
Words per stanza (avg) 24
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 13, 2023

30 sec read
128

Robert Herrick

Robert Herrick was born in London, England, in 1591. He was apprenticed to a goldsmith (his uncle, Sir William), but went to Cambridge, at St John's, in 1613. He was ordained at Peterborough in 1623 and became chaplain to the Duke of Buckingham a few years later. "Hesperides" - a collection of 1200 lyrical poems - was published in 1648 and it remained his magnum opus. Herrick died in 1674, aged 83. more…

All Robert Herrick poems | Robert Herrick Books

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