Robert Herrick's 17th century lyric poem, To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time is perhaps one of the most famous poems to extol the notion of carpe diem or "seize the day" -- a philosophy that recognizes the brevity of life and therefore the need to live for and in the moment.
The poem uses many metaphors throughout to relate youth and nature to the reader. Herrick strongly uses "The Virgins" in the poem to represent people at the beginning of life, and speaks of how, just like the sun rises and sets, so does every human soul. The poem depicts the human existence on earth, and that as life goes on and people age, and everything becomes limited. The poet urges people that now is the time to take advantage of youth and energy, because if we are still virgins in the end, then we have not made the most of time.
The "sun" in the first line of the second stanza may be a pun on the word "son", as he is referring to youth. The word "marry" in the third last line of the last stanza may be a pun on the word "merry", again stressing the "carpe diem" theme.
Art: Botticelli; "Three Graces" detail from Primavera, 1481.
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Hester Prynne names her baby Pearl and watches her grow into a beautiful but elfish child.
Illustration: "Hester and her baby Pearl" from the 1878 edition of The Scarlet Letter published by Charles R. Osgood & Co. in Boston. Illustration drawn by Mary Hallock Foote and engraved by A.V.S. Anthony. Courtesy of hawthorneinsalem.orgIf you liked listening to it, please digg it:
Hester Prynne is released from confinement and turns to sewing to earn a living.Illustration: “Hester at Her Needle”from the 1878 edition of The Scarlet Letter published by Charles R. Osgood & Co. in Boston. Illustration drawn by Mary Hallock Foote and engraved by A.V.S. Anthony. Courtesy of HawthornedinSalem.org IIf you liked listening to it, please digg it:
Roger Chillingworth is called to the prison cell as healer to aid Hester and her ailing babe.
Illustration: "The Eyes of the Wrinkled Scholar Glowed" from the 1878 edition of The Scarlet Letter published by Charles R. Osgood & Co. in Boston. Illustration drawn by Mary Hallock Foote and engraved by A.V.S. Anthony. Courtesy of HawthorneinSalem.orgIf you liked listening to it, please digg it:
While Hester Prynne stands on her "pedestal of shame," clergymen demand that she reveal the name of the man who violated her.
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Christina Rossetti began writing at age 7 but she was 31 before her first work was published. She continued to write and publish for the rest of her life although she focused primarily on devotional writing and children's poetry. She maintained a large circle of friends and for ten years volunteered at a home for prostitutes. She was ambivalent about women's suffrage but many scholars have identified feminist themes in her poetry.
Rossetti remained largely unnoticed and unread until the 1970s when feminist scholars began to recover and comment on her work. In the last few decades Rossetti's writing has been rediscovered and she has regained admittance into the Victorian literary canon.
In her "Song" ("When I am dead, my dearest"), the speaker is not a man reliving the loss of a beloved woman. Rather, the departed woman addresses her soon to be grieving lover. Given Rossetti's status as a female poet, it is tenable to conjecture that she reverses the gender roles. Rossetti's female speaker abjures melancholy poetry and the male conventions of memorialization:
Sing no sad songs for me;
Plant though no roses at my head,
Nor shady cypress tree. [lines 2-4]
Christina's brother and editor, William Michael Rossetti, commented: "This celebrated lyric ... has perhaps been oftener quoted, and certainly oftener set to music, than anything else by Christina Rossetti."
Portrait of Christina Rossetti, by her brother Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter attained an immediate and lasting success because it addressed spiritual and moral issues from a uniquely American standpoint. In 1850, adultery was an extremely risque subject, but because Hawthorne had the support of the New England literary establishment, it passed easily into the realm of appropriate reading. The Scarlet Letter represents the height of Hawthorne's literary genius; dense with terse descriptions. When Hester Prynne bears an illegitimate child she is introduced to the ugliness, complexity, and ultimately the strength of the human spirit. Though set in a Puritan community nearly two centuries ago, the moral dilemmas of personal responsibility, and consuming emotions of guilt, anger, loyalty and revenge are timeless. The Scarlet Letter remains relevant for its philosophical and psychological depth, and continues to be read as a classic tale on a universal theme.
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Robert Herrick's 17th century lyric poem, To the Virgins, To Make Much of Time is perhaps one of the most famous poems to extol the notion of carpe diem or "seize the day" -- a philosophy that recognizes the brevity of life and therefore the need to live for and in the moment.
The poem uses many metaphors throughout to relate youth and nature to the reader. Herrick strongly uses "The Virgins" in the poem to represent people at the beginning of life, and speaks of how, just like the sun rises and sets, so does every human soul. The poem depicts the human existence on earth, and that as life goes on and people age, and everything becomes limited. The poet urges people that now is the time to take advantage of youth and energy, because if we are still virgins in the end, then we have not made the most of time.
The "sun" in the first line of the second stanza may be a pun on the word "son", as he is referring to youth. The word "marry" in the third last line of the last stanza may be a pun on the word "merry", again stressing the "carpe diem" theme.
Art: Botticelli; "Three Graces" detail from Primavera, 1481.
If you liked listening to it, please digg it:
Hester Prynne names her baby Pearl and watches her grow into a beautiful but elfish child.
Illustration: "Hester and her baby Pearl" from the 1878 edition of The Scarlet Letter published by Charles R. Osgood & Co. in Boston. Illustration drawn by Mary Hallock Foote and engraved by A.V.S. Anthony. Courtesy of 
Hester Prynne is released from confinement and turns to sewing to earn a living.
Illustration: “Hester at Her Needle”
Roger Chillingworth is called to the prison cell as healer to aid Hester and her ailing babe.
Illustration: "The Eyes of the Wrinkled Scholar Glowed" from the 1878 edition of The Scarlet Letter published by Charles R. Osgood & Co. in Boston. Illustration drawn by Mary Hallock Foote and engraved by A.V.S. Anthony. 
While Hester Prynne stands on her "pedestal of shame," clergymen demand that she reveal the name of the man who violated her.
Hester Prynne and her baby leave the prison to stand before the townspeople.
