On Herrick

In response to lecture on Monday, I thought I'd try and tackle one of Herrick's works and see what I could come up with... so here it goes!

"The Argument of his Book"

I sing of brooks, of blossoms, birds, and bowers,
Of April, May, of June, and July-flowers;
I sing of May-poles, hock-carts, wassails, wakes,
Of bride-grooms, brides, and of their bridal-cakes.
I write of Youth, of Love;--and have access
By these, to sing of cleanly wantonness;
I sing of dews, of rains, and, piece by piece,
Of balm, of oil, of spice, and ambergris.
I sing of times trans-shifting; and I write
How roses first came red, and lilies white.
I write of groves, of twilights, and I sing
The court of Mab, and of the Fairy King.
I write of Hell; I sing, and ever shall
Of heaven;--and hope to have it after all.

This poem has a carpe diem theme that is progressive in that it moves from concrete to abstract objects. It moves from the rural and natural such as blossoms, birds, and flowers, and moves towards material things such as oil and spice, then progressing to the supernatural and spiritual. This is accomplished by using alliteration in enforce a catalogue or list, also reinforced by the use of censuras within each line. The poem is metrical, and uses rhyming couplets that are straight forward until the last couplet, which ends in both an eye and slant rhyme, perhaps to show tension in the fact that the speaker only hopes that he will have heaven, but it is a fact he is not quite sure of.