A poem for the weekend…

December 15th, 2006 · 35 Comments
Poetry

Take your time, and read the following poem and answer the questions below it. (Read it multiple times if you have to.)

To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time

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.

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he’s a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he’s to setting.

That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.

Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may, go marry:
For having lost but once your prime,
You may for ever tarry.

- Robert Herrick

- What is this poem about? What is the speaker saying to the reader? How does this poem relate to the poem you just received in class (’Days’)?

(There are links to words you might not completely understand. Note that marry does not necessarily mean what you think it does today.)

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35 responses so far ↓

1 Nate // Dec 15, 2006 at 4:47 pm

This poem is about to make the most of the time you are alive, don’t waste it of live life to the fullest, don’t wait. The speaker is trying to say that you only have so much time. This poem is like days because it is saying bascally the same message and it is different because it talks bout rosebuds compared to days
2 Breanna // Dec 15, 2006 at 5:05 pm

The poem is telling you that you mey not be here tomorrow or next week, so while you are here you need to make the most of it. You only live once and if you waist your time being shy, and isolated and in other words a party pooper then you are really going to regret it.THis relates to days because, people just let the “Days” go by. Everybody should live like it is your last. He’s saying that doing things when your young is great because your just young but trying to do everything you ever wanted when your older you have limits. Like can you imagine seing someone whos like 94 yrs old trying to play basketball or ride the most scariest roller coaster. Im not putting down old people they still people but some things you have only one chance to do things.
3 David // Dec 15, 2006 at 5:33 pm

To me this poem is saying that have as much fun as you can now & try many things now as you are young because you will not always have the time to do this as you progress in age.
4 Victoria // Dec 15, 2006 at 6:13 pm

I think the poem is saying live life to the fullest and use your time wisely because you don’t know how long you have on this Earth
5 Angelica // Dec 15, 2006 at 7:23 pm

I still prefer the other poem that we read in class. I seem to have the same interperation as the other kids, I think it is about life and treasuring it. Days are limited and living it to the fullest can make you live a better life.
6 Steven // Dec 15, 2006 at 10:10 pm

I also agree with everybody. This poem is talking about how time passes on after a while things start slowing down, getting old and dying. So knowing this the poem tells you to live life to the fullest and make no regrets. I think the other poem Days was better though. I think this because it was easier to understand and I could make a clear image in my head of what the author was talking about
7 Ashley // Dec 15, 2006 at 10:21 pm

This poem is talking about how you should spend your time wisely and how you shouldn’t take time and what you have for granted. No day is promised for you to live, so you should livve it to the fullest, and not do anything that you would regret. The poem, “Days” was almost written the same way and the moral behind the poem was right in front og your face. But with this poem, you have to think about it. Although the poem isn’t that hard to understand (for me atleast), “Days” was still better than this poem. But I guess it is good to think and not have the answer right in front of your face.
8 Emmanuel // Dec 16, 2006 at 1:20 pm

I also think the poem is similar to days because this poem is talking about living life to the fullest because you might be alive teh next day. Also, the poem Days talks about how each day is a gift. Although this poem is understandable, I would also prefer days because it is the easiest to understand.
9 Veronica!! // Dec 16, 2006 at 3:56 pm

THis poem is about how life is short so go for it while you can. I think that he is trying to say that you will only get the chance to do something once so you have to try or you will never get to. They both talk about life and how short it is.
10 Neil // Dec 16, 2006 at 4:06 pm

This poem shows how life is short so if you do not live life to it’s full potential then when you die you haven’t lived life proparly. The poem relates to days because like you are on top of the dishes you have to live life carefully until you place a plate too hard and it falls to the ground, in other words death. Just like Veronica said “life is short” is how the are alike.
11 Andrew // Dec 16, 2006 at 7:18 pm

I don’t really understand this poem because it sounds like it was written in ye olden times. The one thing that I did understand which is in the title and the first stanza is that you don’t have very much time in life and that you should make the most of the time you have.
12 Amanda // Dec 17, 2006 at 10:39 am

I think the poem is saying that you don’t have much time to live and the faster you try to grow up the sooner your life will end. I also think it is saying that you should enjoy life and cherish it. Just like the other poem we read.
13 Kevin // Dec 17, 2006 at 2:48 pm

I, also agree with everyone else. It is saying that your time is limited, and that you should live life to your fullest, because you never know when “the stack of plates will collapse” or something like that, but if you don’t live a little and your time ends, you will regret it.
14 Kevin // Dec 17, 2006 at 2:50 pm

I think it could also be saying don’t try to grow up too fast, and to cherish life.
15 Alec // Dec 17, 2006 at 3:17 pm

It is saying that life is limited, dont rise without knowing your coming closer to falling, enjoy the time going up, becuase you willl come down or “tarry” which is basiccally not going up
“The sooner will his race be run And nearer he’s to setting.”
This relates to Days because like the plates…you cant rise forever, each day keeps going on top of the other
” And this same flower that smiles to-day To-morrow will be dying.”
“Times still succeed the former.”
Once you stop rising “You may for ever tarry”
16 *~Blair~* // Dec 17, 2006 at 4:31 pm

The first part of the poem is saying, that time flys, also that it seems as though everything is going good one day, but tomorrow it vould be gone. And before you know it your time will soon be up. It means to cherish your life, because ” the race will soon be run,” and “the dishes shall soon fall down.” It says while you can have fun, once you have past your prime time, in life, it will almost be as if you were just floating, with no perpose. Just dying.
17 Aliyah // Dec 17, 2006 at 5:25 pm

The poem to me is about life and trying to live it at its fullest. I think the speaker is trying to say we only have one life to live and that we should enjoy it while we can. The poem to me relates to Days because it talks about life and choices that we have to make during our lives.
18 Ian // Dec 17, 2006 at 5:38 pm

i think that the poet is telling you that if you want somthing then you should get it right away because i may be gone tommorow. also i think he is saying that their is never enought time to do anything so do it while you can or else you might lose you chance and never get another one.
19 Philip // Dec 17, 2006 at 5:38 pm

I think the poet is saying that there will be a day when you do not wake up so you should treat each day as your last. You should never take the day for granted because you will never know when your life will come to a close. In the previous poem Days, the author had a simular message. In that poem he describes each day as a gift. So when that day comes that you don’t recieve a gift you are dead. In the other poem it states that what lives must die, which is the Circle of Life.
20 Randy // Dec 17, 2006 at 8:05 pm

I think that this poem is about time and how you should use it. The poet is saying that time comes and goes every day and that tommorrow is not gaurantied, so use as much of it as you can and don’t take it for granted. I think that this poem relates to ‘Days’ because both of them are saying that time is precious and that tommorrow might not come, so treat each momment like its the last time it will happen.
21 Aaliyah // Dec 17, 2006 at 8:06 pm

I think this poem is teling to cherish every single moment you now have because you do not know what is ahead of you, because whats ahead of you may not be what you want. I think this relates to “Days” because both of the poems are about how you do not have much time or that you do not know if you will live another day because as some people say “tommorow is not promised today.”
22 Valerie // Dec 17, 2006 at 8:39 pm

I’m not sre there is much else to say, but it seems to me that this poem was written some time ago, because nobody really thinks that a woman’s duty is to marry anymore.
Anyway, I think what the poet is trying to say to unmarried women is that they should get married as soon as possible, because when they’re passed their “prime”, no one will have them, and then their lives will be ruined forever. Gee, can you tell that this was wrtten by a guy?
23 Kelsey // Dec 17, 2006 at 8:54 pm

I think that the auther is saying that you should live life young while you can. Once you get old you won’t have as much fun and no one will want you as much. I think that the auther did not take this advice and that he is like what he said you do not want to be.
24 taylor // Dec 17, 2006 at 8:59 pm

i think that this poem is trying to tell people to experience life,and find out everything possible, because you never know when it is too late to experience those same things again. You should not procrastinate your plans for life, because change happens very rapidly. you should make life worth while. This poem is much like the poem “Days” because in both poems, its letting the readers know how important time is, and how you should try and experience new things. Instead of going left all the time, try going right.
25 Deji M. // Dec 17, 2006 at 9:06 pm

Well, like everyone that has posted before me has said, I think the author is saying that you should do as much as possible and live life to fullest when your young and lively, because if you don’t do it you may never get the chance to do so when you get older. So, yeah, do what you want on earth before you get old and die is basiclly what the poem is about. This is also the same message “Days” gives you (Do as much as you can in the world because you might die tomorrow).
A lot of poems to seem to be talking about how not to waste life.
26 Deji M. // Dec 17, 2006 at 9:28 pm

(Response to Valerie))Which part of the poem did it say that you should marry a women as fast as possible because once they get old no one will want them? The last bit of the poem says that you should *take your time* if you want to get married, but don’t hesitate to do so, because you may not have the confidence or the chance when your old.
That’s my view of it.
27 Raya // Dec 17, 2006 at 10:12 pm

i think this poem is tryin to say live life to the fullest. That you being young was great that enjoy it because as you get older that you life gets worse.(in my own opinion) This peom reminds me alot of “Days”
28 Yinka // Dec 17, 2006 at 10:13 pm

This Poem means that children should not try to rush their childhood, and they should charish it. And also that childhood is shorter than adulthood, so it is more precious.
29 Jordan // Dec 17, 2006 at 10:54 pm

I think that the poet is trying to tell people not to waste their lives away, but it is especially going out to children and young adults. It’s basically saying that children should not try to grow up so fast because once they are officially adults, they’re going to wish that they cherished their childhood more. The poem Days has the same message as this one, that being that every new day is precious but also fragile.
30 DeAndre Says: // Dec 17, 2006 at 10:55 pm

I think the poem is saying that time goes by very fast and you have to live life to its fulllest. The poem days said that someone is perched up on a ladder stacking plates very carefully. I think it means that your life can end at any moment, so live life while you can because you can only go forward not back. When were born we start to die because of sin, and in the poem To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time it said thet a flower that smiles today will be dying tommorow. Time goes by fast and if you don’t pay attention it all will go right by.
31 Chris // Dec 18, 2006 at 12:07 am

I think that this poem is about living life to the fullest and you should enjoy while it lasts. The poem is like Days because it is saying the same thing, live life to the fullest.
32 maya= // Dec 18, 2006 at 7:41 am

Its saying that your time year is not for ever, so you shouldtake every day as if it were your last. I think its also talkinmg about how when people were younger and how that doesn’t last forever.
33 maya= // Dec 18, 2006 at 7:42 am

this poem relates tot eh other poem because it is, in a way sending the same message. That your days are limited and precious.
34 William J. // Dec 18, 2006 at 7:44 am

A.)This poem is generally saying that as something begins, it also starts to die. Like what the poem was saying about the sun, as soon as it begins to rise, it’s going to reach a point and begin to set. All good things (good and bad) ar going to come to end at some point.

B.) This poem is in relatioship with “Days” because it saying the same basic thing. As many things begin, they will all (sonner or later) reach an end.
35 Allen T // Dec 28, 2006 at 8:18 am

I read this poem a few times. It does mean live your life to the fullest while you can. Have fun and cherish every moment of life because the day will come when life will end.