Selection from the Lyrical Poems of Robert Herrick

Length: 4h 10m
Chapters: 7
Language: English
Genre: Single author

Robert Herrick had been apprenticed to a goldsmith before entering holy orders. This early training has been credited with influencing his metrical precision and his success with short poems. A still more important influence was Ben Jonson, for he was a member of the "sons of Ben," the coterie of younger poets that surrounded that great dramatist, Shakespeare's rival and friend. He even addresses a poem to Jonson addressing him as his "saint." As a country parson, far from the bustle of London and his poetic peers, Herrick found inspiration in the beauties of nature, but loneliness may have skewed his perception toward the melancholy lessons taught by the changing seasons. Still, he remai…