Poem of the Day: ‘The Argument of his Book’

The opening verse of Robert Herrick’s 1648 collection of poetry called ‘Hesperides.’

Via Wikimedia Commons
Cornelis van Haarlem: 'The Hesperides Filling the Cornucopia,' 1622. Via Wikimedia Commons

Robert Herrick (1591–1674) wrote Cavalier poetry about seducing beautiful girls. Just about any anthology will include, for example, his “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” and “Corinna’s Going A-Maying” — poems that tell a reader their genre just by their titles. And Robert Herrick wrote religious poems with titles that tell their readers, just as clearly, the category to which they belong. So, for example, two Herrick poems the Sun has previously published: “To Keep a True Lent” and “To Find God.”

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