To Daffodils by Robert Herrick (Summary)

 

To Daffodils

by Robert Herrick

(Summary)

 

Robert Herrick (1591-1674) was born in London and was an Anglican priest. His epigrammatic couplets and rhetorical structure won him praise. His images are conventional. The poem ‘Daffodils’ conveys the idea of Mortality through various images in comparison to nature.

This poem is addressed to Daffodils by Robert Herrick. This poem tells us how soon all beautiful things in this world die away and disappear. Addressing the daffodils, the poet says that this beautiful flower has a very short life. When the sun rises the flower blossoms but within a few hours even when it is not mid-noon daffodils get decaying. The poet here compares man’s life with that of Daffodils; both die very soon. Man like a Daffodil has a very short period of youth. We grow very soon and begin to perish in the end. When a man reaches in mid-period of his life, he grows old quickly and his decay begins. His youth, power, beauty and enthusiasm remain no longer.

Summary

The poet is very sad to see that daffodils are very beautiful but their lives come to an end very soon. Their life is very short spread over a period of a few hours – starts from the early rising of the sun and ends even when the sun has not reached the noon time. The poet entreats them to stay on and survive at least till evening when evening prayers and ringing of bells in the Church start. The poet wishes that he would sing his evening prayer together with daffodils and then both of them will go to end their lives. The life of daffodils is very short but very beautiful, so the life of a man may be short but it also should be beautiful, pleasant and full of pleasures. The poet compares the lives of man and the daffodils and says that their lives are very short, yet they are beautiful and charming as the spring. The daffodils and the spring grow and die quickly so do they decay and die very soon. 

Same is the case with the fate of poets. Poets’ fame and honour grows very quickly but it also fades out very soon. Poet’s life is compared with summer’s rain which does not last long and with dew drops which are evaporated with the rising sun. The poet concludes that long life is meaningless if it is not beautiful and purposeful. A short but beautiful and meaningful life is preferable. The daffodils, the spring the dew drops, the summer rain are meaningful and pleasant, though their lives are short yet their life is better than a long but useless life.