Counsel to Girls 

(Original Title: To the Virgins to Make much of Time)

(Robert Herrick)

The poem is full of symbols.  Rosebuds are symbols of beauty, youth, and innocence.  Old (father) time a symbol of death and aging.  The sun (Helios), racing across the heavens to his death symbolises how quickly our lives pass. 

Helios shown on a roman coin (from the 3rd century A.D. (Probus, A.D. 276-282)
which on the reverse depicts the sun god driving a chariot drawn by
four horses (Sol in Quadriga). The inscription reads SOLI INVICTO - The
Invincible Sun.] source: http://www.aloha.net/~mikesch/wheel.htm  The mythology of Helios is that he set out each morning and drove his blazing chariot across the skies from the East to the West.  When he reached the West he would sink beneath the waves and sleep while he was carried back to the East to begin his journey again the following day.

 Old Father Time (Source: The weather vane from Lord's Cricket Ground, London)

The cavalier poets celebrated life, love, loyalty, passion, elegance and beauty.  Can you see how these themes are central to the poem?

The age of the speaker here is quite important.  How would you view his message to young girls if he was a fatherly old man?  How would you view his message if he was a hot-blooded young bachelor?

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Last modified: Friday September 13, 2002.