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Jaharra Womack

Dr. Alice Blackwell

British Literature I

26 November 2021

Impatience is a Virtue

Carpe Diem or “seize the day” in Latin is not just a proverb, it is an active choice make

the most of a situation while giving little thought to anything else. Some may say this is a selfish

attitude however, prioritizing personal satisfaction is sometimes necessary and an essential part

of life. Poets John Donne, Andrew Marvell, and Robert Herrick each contribute to the “carpe

diem” motif of the seventeenth century and highlight this attitude as a social and mortal

requirement. Within their poetry, seizing the day becomes the rule of life and love.

When it comes to Donne, carpe diem is about seizing love when it comes along. In “The

Canonization” Donne uses this motif to defend love in the face of egoistic judgement.

Immediately, he pleads with the antagonist to spare their ridicule of his love and invites them to

attack his more obvious flaws or turn their attentions toward self-improvement. The second

stanza is open for interpretation as a bold rhetorical confrontation of the bully, a bare-chested

plea for understanding, or possibly both. “Alas, alas, who’s injured by my love (Donne)?” The

plain language is bold and continues to mock the aggressor by exaggerating the innocence of

love in relation to more grave matters like plague and war. Up to this point Donne had been

loving and judged alone, until the last line of this stanza when his love becomes monogamous

and mutual. The next two stanzas present the two lovers, first as separate, small, insignificant

parts, then develops into a grander simile likening the two to a phoenix. Rebirthing love from
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their ashes, they are “canonized for Love” and after death, become martyrs to it. In the end they

become a pattern for love between lovers and their names are invoked in prayers about love.

Donne’s particular views about loves permanence are hard to date. He distrusted print

and very few of his works were printed in his lifetime. They were mainly circulated by

manuscript to an intimate audience making it difficult to associate this particular piece with a

time in the authors life. (Takseva, 7) Having had a chaotic life, this style of poetry that displays a

“romantic careless, even contemptuous of authority” could be attributed to the period just after

he elopes with Anne More, before this period his ambitions were more political. (Freidman, 125)

At this time, Donne would have experience defending the love of his employer’s niece ,who was

younger and far outranked him, and would be able to examine the contradictions that arise

between work (his employer) and love (Anne) or life (an everlasting life and love in the eyes of

religion) and death (neglecting religion or martyrdom). (Bryson, 432) Though he produced less

than twenty love elegies, Donne’s work presents love as eternal and innocent.

For Donne, carpe diem means seizing the opportunity to love and be loved. For Herrick,

seizing the day is a primal obligation. In “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,” Robert

Herrick portrays youth as a season to be taken advantage of the same as the budding of roses.

Rather than a laisse faire attitude about coupling, this poem draws on natural elements, such as

budding spring-time flowers and solar movement, to illustrate time’s unstoppable march forward

and the responsibility to capitalize on the privilege of youth. Here, carpe diem is natural and

necessary, not something to be chided. In this instance, we see consistency between love (taking

advantage of youth by marrying young) and death (producing offspring or a lost prime) rather

than conflict.
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Interestingly, as an Anglican Minister, Herrick makes no attempt to promote a religious

attitude about procreation or marriage. (Bryson, 452) He goes one step further and warns that

those who move slowly are at risk of squandering the precious little time they have as time

marches forward. The author gives no value to love as a worthwhile endeavor, only the survival

of humanity as living creatures with finite time to perform specific actions. Perhaps because of

his convictions, Herrick chose to highlight death on earth as an inevitability of life and a

condition we all share. In his carpe diem poetry he inspires the reader to make the most of youth

for the sake of survival.

Rather than working within the confines of time, in “To His Coy Mistress,” Marvell

hopes to transcend it. In this work, Andrew Marvell expresses the vast amounts of time it would

take to properly appreciate his beloved. The author is so invigorated by his love that the two

don’t wish for time to stand still, instead, they race on the wings of love and dare time to keep up

with them:

Rather at once our time devour

Than languish in his slow-chapped power.
Let us roll all our strength and all
Our sweetness up into one ball,
And tear our pleasures with rough strife
Through the iron gates of life:
Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run.
Like the previous poem, the subject is in love and will eventually face the ravages of time,

however, this work takes a proactive stance to maximizing the quality of life and love. Rather

than slowly giving way under the weight of time, Marvell’s attitude is not to wait for the last day,

but to make sure to live every day before it. In these last lines, he acknowledges the immense
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power of time but is committed to tearing through the pleasures of life and not stopping after

youth has passed.

This use of the motif is most closely related to the Aristotle’s proclamation that happiness

is the highest good. (O’Keefe, 112) This eudaimonia is a total measure of the happiness in one’s

life rather than isolated moments. Marvell’s poem, thought to be inspired by Donne, makes

mention of taking advantage of youth but love isn’t inhibited by age. Lines 35, “ while thy

willing soul transpires,” and 37, “let us sport while we may,” do not limit the terms of love to

youth but rely on the willingness of the soul so that even after one has passed their prime, their

life still holds tremendous value. This is the true nature of carpe diem motif portrayed as a

persuasion poem or “suasio” which invites the reader to take advantage of happiness at any

opportunity. (Friedman, 294) It places the responsibility for fulfillment at the subject’s feet and

demands they make the most of it.

Donne, Herrick, and Marvell all use the carpe diem motif to make statements about what

makes life worthwhile. These poets show the versatility of the genre inspired by conflict and

balancing the contradictions of love and life or embracing love but having to choose between

making the most of youth because it is the only time in life to be happy or making the most of

love because life is for a limited time only. These lines can lay bare personal desires that

contradict the poets religious tenants and corroborate the most basic requirements of humanity.

Whether for personal enjoyment or humanity as a species, seizing the day is fundamental.
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Works Cited

Cambridge Companion to English Poetry, Donne to Marvell. Ed. Thomas Corns. London:

Cambridge UP, 1993.

Bryson, Michael and Arpi Movsesian. Love and Its Critics: From the Song of Songs to

Shakespeare and Milton’s Eden. Open Book Publishers, 2017. EBSCOhost, search-ebscohost-

com.ezproxy2.lsua.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=1622666&site=ehost-

live&scope=site. Accessed 26 November 2021.

O’Keefe, Tim. Epicureanism. Routledge, 2010. EBSCOhost, search-ebscohost-

com.ezproxy2.lsua.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=924358&site=ehost-

live&scope=site. Accessed 26 November 2021.

Takseva, Tatjana. Seventeenth-Century Poetic Genres As Social Categories: A New Reading of

the Poetry of John Donne. Edwin Mellen Press, 2010. EBSCOhost, search-ebscohost-

com.ezproxy2.lsua.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=e000xna&AN=501593&site=ehost-

live&scope=site. Accessed 26 November 2021.