The Argument of His Book

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1648

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Related Poems

“Upon Julia’s Breasts“ by Robert Herrick (1648)

This particular poem was also printed in Hesperides along with “The Argument of His Book,” which initiates the volume. The poem is one of several from Herrick addressing a woman named Julia from the perspective of her admirer and beloved. This particular poem is rather sexual, provoking Julia to reveal her body to her addresser who wishes to “[r]avish[]” (Line 4) her.

“Of Love: A Sonnet” by Robert Herrick (1648)

Likewise written in Hesperides, “Of Love” focuses on the origin of the eponymous emotion. Also written in sonnet form like “The Argument of His Book,” this particular poem fulfills Herrick’s promise to provide lyrics on love in Hesperides, a promise/prediction he puts forth in “The Argument.” In “Of Love,” Herrick’s speaker muses about how love exactly entered into them—whether through the ear or eye—and where it resides: everywhere or in one particular place. They end with the conclusion that love is an “out-let” (Line 14) from the heart.

“Upon the Loss of his Mistresses“ by Robert Herrick (1648)

Just as with the preceding two examples, this poem appears in Hesperides. In this text, the speaker does seem to be conflated with the author, as they refer to themself as “Herrick[].” The speaker goes through an itemized list of the lovers who have left them, including some of their lovers’ primary features. In the end, though, the speaker is left alone to contemplate death in their sorrow.

Further Literary Resources

Marriage, celibacy, and ritual in Robert Herrick’s Hesperides by Marjorie Swann (Winter 1997)

Swann focuses on Herrick’s portrayal of women in his 1648 collection Hesperides. She studies all of the poems from this particular collection which reference women and relationships or love. Her aim in assuming this focus is to analyze the political implications of Herrick’s text in light of these gender references. Swann notes:

In some of his representations of women’s participation in rituals, Herrick ostensibly promotes the Stuart ideal of patriarchy, yet simultaneously undercuts this position Near the end of Hesperides, however, Herrick’s ambivalence overwhelms political orthodoxy, and he portrays a social order in which traditional figures and institutions of male authority are absent or rejected. (p. 20-21)

Herrick’s poems with female characters contribute to the contextualization of Stuart politics and society.

“Robert Herrick and the Makings of Hesperides“ by Randall Ingram (1998)

The abstract to Ingram’s article reads:

Ingram argues that the poetry of Robert Herrick’s Hesperides is overwhelmingly concerned with its own survival, and the brief poem identifies some strategies for overcoming the challenges confronting a 17th-century book of lyric poems.

Ingram analyzes how Herrick’s collection of lyric poetry was published during a period when lyric poetry collections struggled to gain popularity and societal influence.

“On the “Childhood of the Yeare [sic]”: Herrick’s Hesperides New Year’s Poems“ by Janie Caves McCauley (1990)

While Swann focuses on the poems of Hesperides having to do with women, McCauley’s article centers on the New Year’s poem group of Herrick’s collection. McCauley adds Herrick to a list of other 17th-century poets who wrote about the New Year holiday, including John Donne and Sir John Suckling. McCauley’s intention in writing about the New Year’s poems of Hesperides is to show the “implication that disparate religious sects share a common heritage of beliefs and customs which they may not acknowledge” (p. 72). By showing this interconnection of beliefs, Herrick’s readers received “hope and strength in a troubled age by arguing that all such worldly strife is fleeting” (p. 72).