Delight in Disorder: Selected Poems

Delight in Disorder: Selected Poems contains more than fifty poems by the seventeenth-century poet, Robert Herrick. Though he printed many of his poems in1648, this selection of his poetry was published by Crescent Moon in 2008.

The titular poem begins by stating that the speaker believes a disorderly dress can be playful. Likewise, a "lawn" or piece of linen that hangs off the shoulder is a "fine distraction," as is a bit of lace that only manages to keep the stomacher (a triangular piece of cloth men and women wore on their torsos in the seventeenth century) attached in a few places. A cuff that someone let flow "neglectfully and confusedly" in ribbons, and a billowing, storm-like petticoat deserve a "winning wave." Shoes tied carelessly bring to mind "wild civility," interesting the speaker more than art that is "too precise in every part."

In "The Argument of His Book," Herrick gives an outline of many of his poems. In them, he "sings of" natural beauty, springtime, wedding, wantonness, spices, the movement of time, fairies, and how roses first got their color. He ends the poem with the lines "I sing (and ever shall)/of Heaven, and hope to have it after all."



Another of his better-known poems, "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" begins with the famous line "Gather ye rose-buds while ye may." The first stanza encourages the virgins to enjoy themselves while they are young, as time is "still-aflying." The present flower of their beauty will already be dying tomorrow. Herrick goes on to describe the sun racing up and down the sky. He tells the virgins, "That age is best which is first," referring to their youthful days. He then urges the women to go and get married while they are in their prime, for if they wait too long, they may end up alone forever.

The collection also includes some of Herrick's poems about Julia: "Art Above Nature; To Julia," "To Julia," "Upon Julia's Unlacing Herself," "The Night-Piece to Julia," "Julia's Petticoat," "Upon Julia's Clothes," and "To Julia, in Her Dawn or Daybreak." In these poems, the speaker compares Julia to valuable gems, admires the way she looks in her silks, and describes how she smells as she unlaces her clothes. He begs to woo her and "pour his soul" into her.

In "Corinna's going a-Maying," the speaker urges his lover out of bed to celebrate May. He encourages her to make the best of her time with love and play. He compares her to the blossoming flowers: "Come forth, like the springtime, fresh and green."



Similarly, in "To Anthea," the speaker tells Anthea, "Love at no time idle is," meaning that love should be a serious affair, not an idle pastime. He conjures the image of the two of them making a chain of sweet bents, tying themselves up, fusing their souls, and dying.

Herrick was a cleric as well as a poet. He lost his position at his vicarage when he refused the Solemn League and Covenant following the English Civil War. He published his first book of work, Hesperides; or the Works both Human and Divine of Robert Herrick, in 1648. When political power again shifted in 1660, Herrick petitioned to have his title restored, and he became a vicar again two years later.

A prominent theme in Herrick's work was an urgency to make the most of one’s time. This genre of poetry is called "carpe diem." It urges another party to seize the day, sometimes at the risk of a virgin’s purity.



Strongly influenced by Roman writers and late Elizabethan poetry, Herrick's work was perhaps considered old-fashioned by his contemporaries, but it gained popularity in the early nineteenth century.

Despite his affiliations with organized religion and his strict lifestyle, Herrick's work is often sexual. Many of these sensual poems are to Julia, one of which is candidly called "Upon the Nipples of Julia's Breast." Though his poems often refer to women, most critics believe that these women were fictional and that Herrick remained a bachelor his whole life.

The poet and playwright Ben Jonson also heavily influenced Herrick. He was a member of Jonson's fan club, "Sons of Ben," and wrote Jonson at least five poems.



Herrick's style is often considered more accessible than that of his peers. F.P. Fulgrave wrote in a collection's preface, "His directness of speech with clear and simple presentation of thought, a fine artist working with conscious knowledge of his art, of an England of his youth in which he lives and moves and loves, clearly assigns him to the first place as a lyrical poet in the strict and pure sense of the phrase."

Scholars often credit Herrick with reintroducing the Greek style of lyrical poetry, which the Greeks formatted in such a way that it could be set to music. All of Herrick's poems adhered to these classical guidelines and earned him the title of "the greatest songwriter ever born to the English race," according to Victorian poet A.C. Swinburne.