Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TO VIRGINS by ROBERT HERRICK

Poet Analysis

First Line: HEAR, YE VIRGINS, AND I'LL TEACH
Last Line: GIFTS WILL GET YE, OR THE MAN.
Subject(s): YOUTH;
HEAR, ye virgins, and I'll teach
What the times of old did preach.
Rosamond was in a bower
Kept, as Danae, in a tower;
But yet Love, who subtle is.
Crept to that, and came to this.
Be ye locked up like to these,
Or the rich Hesperides:
Or those babies in your eyes,
In their crystal nunneries;
Notwithstanding, love will win,
Or else force a passage in;
And as coy be as you can,
Gifts will get ye, or the man.



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