“GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old time is still a-flying :
And this same flower that smiles to-day
To-morrow will be dying.”

So opens Robert Herrick’s poem To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time. The poem is often compared to Andrew Marvells’ Coy Mistress for its similar thematic content: expounding the principle of carpe diem in order to convince a female addressee to “marry” while she is still beautiful.

Herrick is often classified as a cavalier poet, and is generally known for his bawdy style and frequent references to the female body. Many of his most raunchy poems are addressed to a character named ” Julia.”

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