William Henely's 'To The Virgins, To Make Use Of Time'

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Aaron Cornelius Pledge
Mrs. Brown
English III
3 March 2014
Potatoe and Potato
Yesterday is nothing but the history. It is simply just the past. One must try to not dwell or think about the past for too long. Thinking about the past for too long can lead towards us losing sight of what is in front of us. However, one should never completely ignore the past either. Our past memories allow us to learn from our mistakes.he Romans said, "carpe diem" meaning seize the day and live every day as if it were your last. William Henely's “O Gather Me the Rose” and Richard Herrick's “To the Virgins, to Make Use Of Time” shows the use of this idea of seizing the day.
These two poems are different in a couple of ways. One of the first things that the reader notices is the time of the poem. Herrick's poem is noticeably older than Henely's without knowing the time period in which the authors lived in. This is shown in the first and last stanza when he uses the word "ye" to replace the words you and your. "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may"(Herrick 1). Another difference in context is the amount of literal presence in each poem. The old vibe from Herrick’s poem seems more directive and commanding. Herrick is almost telling his readers to make use of their time. Henely is trying to persuade his readers to …show more content…

A gift sent from heaven. No matter what mistakes you made in the past, you still have today to compensate for it. The time that we wasted and the time that we might be wasting is no longer important. What we did and what we might do is no longer important. You can do what you need to do now. In short, we should “carpe diem” or seize the day. Herrick and Henley truly believed that every day is paramount to how their life works. These two poems “O, Gather Me the Rose” and “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” show the readers how they shoul take on the troubles of life. Every day should be treated as a great gift. That's why it is called "the

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