Robert Herrick and Andrew Marvel

Poetry has been a way of expression for centuries. Poets like Shakespeare and Edgar Alan Poe are known worldwide but there are accomplished poets that are not as well known. Two poets in particular are Robert Herrick, the writer of “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”, and Andrew Marvell, the writer of “To His Coy Mistress”. This paper will inform you of the events in these men’s lives, the summaries of these poems, and the professional criticisms written about the poems.

According to EBSCO, Robert Herrick was born in London in the year 1591(par. 1). As a child, he spent most of his time in Hampton and became an apprentice to his uncle who was a jeweler to the king (par. 1). He was a graduate of Cambridge and soon after, in 1627, he took orders and became a chaplain (par. 1). Two years later, he resided in Devonshire until 1647 when he was ejected for political reasons (par. 1). However, he was allowed to return in 1662 and stayed there until his death in 1674 (par. 1). The majority of Herrick’s work was in the Hesperides (par. 1). This also contained his Noble Numbers, which are religious poems (par. 1). A few of his poems contained in the Hesperides are, “The Argument of His Book”, “Upon the Loss of His Mistresses”, “The Vine”, and “Delight in Disorder”(par. 1).

Robert Herrick’s “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” is mainly about seizing the day and not letting time pass by. In lines one through four, it speaks of gathering flowers before they die because time will continue to pass by. Lines five through eight is about the sun rising and setting every day. Next, in lines nine through twelve, the writer speaks of how the beginning years of life are the best years but as time continues, age will follow. L...

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Marvell, Andrew. “To His Coy Mistresss.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Ed. Stephen Greernblatt. New York: New York, 2006. 1703-1704. Print.

Perkins, Wendy. Critical Essay on 'To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time'. Literature Resource Center. 2001. Web. 20 July 2011.

http://97.77.112.4:2059/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CH1420037683&v=2.1&u=txshracd2561&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w

ProQuest Biographies. Marvell, Andrew, 1621-1678. ProQuest, 2006. Web. 24 July 2011. http://97.77.112.4:2090/critRef/displayItemById.do?QueryType=reference&forAuthor=1407&BackTo=Author%20Page&ItemID=bio1407%20pqllit_ref_lib

Reiff, Raychel Haugrud. Marvell's 'To His Coy Mistress’. Literature Resource Center. 2008. Web. 20 July 2011.

http://97.77.112.4:2059/ps/i.do?&id=GALE%7CH1420081728&v=2.1&u=txshracd2561&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w