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A Study of the Carpe Diem in Two Literary Poems

万彰劼

（北京师范大学外国语言文学学院中国北京100875）

【Abstract】Carpe diem expresses a philosophy of recognizing the brevity of life and seizing an opportunity in time. Poems then breathe wit and

wisdom with the carpe diem theme running through, on the basis of which many distinguished Cavalier poets have created a number of masterpieces.

Among them are Robert Herrick’s “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” and Pierre de Ronsard’s “To Hélène”. This essay therefore will compare

the two poems from the aspects of the message and the way they confront the fleeting nature of life through verse.

【Key words】Carpe diem；Theme；Genre；Rhetorical devices According to the original Latin poem by Horace, carpe diem

expresses a philosophy of recognizing the brevity of life and seizing an opportunity in time. Poems therefore breathe wit and wisdom with the carpe diem theme running through, on the basis of which many

distinguished Cavalier poets have created a number of masterpieces. Among them are Robert Herrick’s “To the Virgins, to Make Much of

Time” and Pierre de Ronsard’s “To Hélène”. Accordingly, this essay will compare the two poems from the aspects of the message and the way they confront the fleeting nature of life through verse.

As for the messages, first of all, a noticeable resemblance is revealed by the genre of carpe diem and the subject of love in both poems. Through extolling the notion of carpe diem, messages are conveyed

between the lines that we should make the most of every moment. Set in the Renaissance, both poems also underline the importance of earthly love against shackles of the old conventions. Take “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” (Herrick, 130), for example: by stating that “this same flower that smiles today tomorrow will be dying”, Herrick laments the lovely things, such as “youth”, which will soon disappear while time is slipping away. Since youth and beauty wane year after year, he argues that maidens should not miss any opportunity to enjoy a happy marital life. “Gather ye rosebuds,” more than any other phrase in Herrick has “worked its way into the popular imagination… evoke universal images of love and beauty (Gertzman, 77)”. Likewise, through depicting that his

lover, “crouched by the fire, an old hag”, will yearn for all that has been lost, Ronsard perfectly conveys to readers that young women in love must

cherish the love they possess at present, in case of regrets at the lost bliss in their dotage. On the whole, both deliver the message of making full use of time as well as gaining earthly love in the form of carpe diem. On the flip side, it is obvious that Herrick and Ronsard exhibit different themes to readers. Take “To the Virgins, to Make Much of

Time”, for instance: it is an excellent example of the carpe diem motif,


exhorting girls to “be not coy, but use your time” and “enjoy life’s joys while they are still young and beautiful” (Kimmel and Aronson, 131).

Nevertheless, “To Hélène” (Yandell, 61) advises those in love to cherish what they own now, eschewing regrets of their lost sweethearts as they age. “Blessing your name with immortal praise” in “To Hélène” proves the romantic relationship between Ronsard and his lover, thus the poem is for a woman involving in love affairs. In spite of the same concern of the carpe diem philosophy and love affairs, these two poems direct particular attentions to different objects as stated above. Concerning the way to present the fleeting nature of life, both

Herrick and Ronsard fully exploit artistic conceptions with a rich flavor of life. To illustrate, the first three stanzas of “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” lay emphasis on maidens being subject to the laws of nature, demonstrated by the images of roses and the sun. However, the last stanza rests on instructions that beautiful maidens should not miss the chance of the halcyon days of their youths in marriage. Herrick humorously defines the philosophy of “seizing the day” as a result of “going marry”, a common topic towards life. Similarly, with a vivid description of the sentimental picture “in evening’s candlelight”,

Ronsard presents his lover’s sorrow in an artistic way. Without a maid to help, his lover will be engaged in needlework herself. Even though having

love affairs with Ronsard whose name even the sleeping handmaid marvel at, she has nothing but to repent her disdain. From an everyday scene, we can clearly see how his lover will profess regrets. Ronsard makes an

imagination so as to warn his lover not to regret on the improper attitudes towards his love. Throughout the poem abound exquisite descriptions closely related to daily life.

Conversely, different rhetorical devices are applied to present the carpe diem philosophy throughout the two poems. On the one hand, Herrick makes a striking use of representation, metaphor and

personification in his poem. At the beginning, Herrick speaks of seizing the chance to “gather ye rosebuds” by virtue of their “dying” process within a day. With the “rosebuds” representing the beauty, it reveals that beauty fades over the years passing by. Then he turns his gaze to the sky, comparing “the sun” to “the glorious lamp of heaven”. While “the higher he is a -getting the sooner will his race be run, and nearer he is to

setting”, we learn of the brevity of human life through the portrayal of the sun; Next, in the third stanza, as “times” are personified in the victory over “youth”, we can see that our youth is valuable. On the other hand, Ronsard makes full use of imagination and contrast. Unlike some other poems voicing grief and affections directly, Ronsard guides us to an imaginary scene of his lover in old age, as revealed by words like

“crouched” and “old”, ect. Original in conception, Ronsard directly put forward a future case in imagination, thus highlighting the carpe diem theme from a novel perspective. Furthermore, by contrasting an air of


arrogance in youth with mixed feelings of remorse and shame when she grows old, the importance of cherishing the golden opportunity with Mr. Right stands out. Thus, we can see how the carpe diem theme can generate innumerable wonderful poems for us, thanks to the poets’ various conceptions and devices.

In conclusion, while both express the carpe diem theme, these two

poems share similarities and differences in messages and ways to confront the fleeting nature of life. On the one hand, they are fundamentally

similar in the genre of carpe diem as well as in the artistic pictures they create. However, they differ in the themes and the rhetorical devices used throughout the poems. Because of these similarities and differences, both Herrick and Ronsard’s versions of carpe diem will long have an important place in English literature. 【References】

［1］Cathy M. Yandell. Carpe corpus: time and gender in early modern France. University of Delaware Press，2000：61.

［2］Jay A. Gertzman. Fantasy, fashion, and affection: editions of Robert Herrick’s

poetry for the Common Reader, 1810-1968. Popular Press 1，1986.

［3］Michael S. Kimmel, Amy Aronson. Men and masculinities: a social, cultural, and historical encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO，2003：125-136.

［4］Robert Herrick. A selection from the Lyrical Poems of Robert Herrick. Kessinger Publishing，2004：130.

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