British Literature Essay

Introduction

The world of literature can be characterized by the various genres and styles. The poetry is not an exception. The themes and the underlying meanings of the poems encompass the problems of human existence, human feelings, desires, and even the world perception. The carpe diem poems are the examples of the poetry works uncovering the theme of people’s attitude to life. The aubade is the kind of lyrics devoted to love and the relationships between the man and the woman.

The aim of this essay is to analyze the carpe diem poem and an aubade.

The Analysis

The carpe diem is the Latin expression regarding the certain attitude to life. The phrase can be translated as “enjoy the moment”. It means seeing the good in life and having the positive attitude to the surrounding reality. The carpe diem is the central theme of the poem Gather Ye Rose-Buds by Robert Herrick. The poet teaches us being relaxed and happy today. Herrick says in his poem,

“Gather ye rose-buds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying:
And this same flower that smiles to-day,
To-morrow will be dying” (Gather Ye Rose-Buds, 2012, n.pag.)

He tries to make us understand that we do not have to worry about the future too much. “Living for a present” means forgetting about your fears and worries in order to seize the moments of today.

The aubade is the kind of song lyrics. In contrast to the serenades, which are performed after the sunset, the aubades are sung in the morning. The first aubades appeared in the 16th century. They eulogized the lofty sentiments between the man and the woman, their love and faithfulness to each other. The modern aubades are somewhat different. They mostly represent the songs about the parting of lovers.

William Shakespeare, the outstanding English play writer and poet, was also the author of the aubade. His work Aubade represents a short love lyrics devoted to the appeal of the lover to his lady. He calls her in the morning singing,

“And Phoebus ‘gins arise,
His steeds to water at those springs
On chaliced flowers that lies…

…My Lady sweet, arise!

Arise, arise!” (The Poet-Photographer, n.d., n.pag.).

Phoebus was the God of Sun in the Ancient Greece. It becomes clear that the lover sings his song in the morning, when the sun rises. He asks his beloved to meet with him. He associates her appearance with the sunrise by asking her to “arise” like a sun. The lyric of the song is very emotional and sweet. It reflects the tender passion of the singer to his beloved. Shakespeare enriches the lyric with the depiction of the beauty of the morning time.

Conclusion

In order to sum up all above mentioned, it should be said that the analyzed pieces of poetry belong to the different genres and uncover different themes. The poem Gather Ye Rose-Buds by Robert Herrick uncovers the carpe diem theme in poetry.

It eulogizes the joy of life and teaches us to seize every moment in our lives. Aubade by William Shakespeare is the love lyric. Aubade represents the appeal of the lover to his lady in the morning. I like both pieces of poetry. I think that they are saturated with the most positive and generous human feelings and encourage us to be happy every day.

Works Cited

Gather Ye Rose-Buds. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.poeticterminology.net/

The Poet-Photographer. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://soundarya.wordpress.com/shakespeare-page/aubade-by-william-shakespeare/