Robert Herrick

(1591 - 1674)

Later a cleric and poet, Robert Herrick as a boy was apprenticed as a goldsmith. After graduating Cambridge in 1617, he was ordained in 1623 and subsequently moved to London where he enjoyed the company of writers (including Ben Jonson), musicians, and the royal court. Herrick’s sole book of poetry—Hesperides—was published in 1648 and contained about 1,400 poems, including his most famous poem, “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time.”