'To The Virgins And Catullus Carpe Diem'
Carpe Diem
A carpe diem song or poem is commonly interpreted as “eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die”. A carpe diem usually involves talking to a lover, persuading a lover to yield, and it reflects an epicurean worldview that life is short, that there is no punishment in the afterlife, and that one should not worry about the punishment or reputation. Above all the poet, in a desperate effort to persuade his lover to yield, offering that the opportunity is now. Poems or songs reflecting the carpe diem theme tend to focus on youth. Both Robert Herrick’s poem “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” and Catullus’s “Vivamus et Amemus” reflect the key characteristics of this specific genre. Catullus makes his appeal in the first three lines of the poem by saying “Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque …show more content…
In line 1 Herrick says “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may” which can be interpreted as living life to the fullest. Herrick uses the rosebuds to represent earthly fulfillment and to represent the brevity of life. Herrick uses the flower in the third line to suggest that we are all like the flower in the sense that we will go through joyful moments, but the end result will be death for everyone. Herrick, in lines 5-8 increases the extent of the shortness of life and the necessity for life to be lived. He uses the sun as an image of the fullness of life, but uses the setting of the sun as an image of death. Herrick uses both the image of the rose and the image of the sun as a metaphor for the brevity of life and humans. In lines 9-12 Herrick uses the image of youth to represent the best time of your life and tells us to enjoy it. Herrick tells us that love holds a unique place in a persons life and that when it comes around in your life you must latch on to it. In the last 4 lines Herrick ties all aspects of life together and joins them in the union of
A carpe diem song or poem is commonly interpreted as “eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die”. A carpe diem usually involves talking to a lover, persuading a lover to yield, and it reflects an epicurean worldview that life is short, that there is no punishment in the afterlife, and that one should not worry about the punishment or reputation. Above all the poet, in a desperate effort to persuade his lover to yield, offering that the opportunity is now. Poems or songs reflecting the carpe diem theme tend to focus on youth. Both Robert Herrick’s poem “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” and Catullus’s “Vivamus et Amemus” reflect the key characteristics of this specific genre. Catullus makes his appeal in the first three lines of the poem by saying “Vivamus, mea Lesbia, atque …show more content…
In line 1 Herrick says “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may” which can be interpreted as living life to the fullest. Herrick uses the rosebuds to represent earthly fulfillment and to represent the brevity of life. Herrick uses the flower in the third line to suggest that we are all like the flower in the sense that we will go through joyful moments, but the end result will be death for everyone. Herrick, in lines 5-8 increases the extent of the shortness of life and the necessity for life to be lived. He uses the sun as an image of the fullness of life, but uses the setting of the sun as an image of death. Herrick uses both the image of the rose and the image of the sun as a metaphor for the brevity of life and humans. In lines 9-12 Herrick uses the image of youth to represent the best time of your life and tells us to enjoy it. Herrick tells us that love holds a unique place in a persons life and that when it comes around in your life you must latch on to it. In the last 4 lines Herrick ties all aspects of life together and joins them in the union of