Analisi e riflessioni sulla poesia "Fair Daffodils" di Robert Herrick

Fair Daffodils

Fair Daffodils, we weep to see
You haste away so soon;
As yet the early-rising sun
Has not attain'd his noon.
Stay, stay,
Until the hasting day
Has run
But to the even-song;
And, having pray'd together, we
Will go with you along.
We have short time to stay, as you,
We have as short a spring;
As quick a growth to meet decay,
As you, or anything.
We die
As your hours do, and dry
Away,
Like to the summer's rain;
Or as the pearls of morning's dew,
Ne'er to be found again.

Translation in Italian

Narcisi gialli, piangiamo nel vedere
che ve ne siete andati troppo in fretta;
come già il sole che sorge presto
non ha raggiunto la sua pienezza.
Rimani, rimani
fino a che il giorno frettoloso
non è corso via
ormai fino al vespro;
e, avendo giocato insieme, noi
andremo via con te.
Noi abbiamo poco tempo per rimanere, come te,
noi abbiamo una così breve primavera;
una crescita così veloce che incontra la decadenza,
come te, o nulla.
Noi moriamo
come fanno le ore, e ci rinsecchiamo
lontani
come per la pioggia d’estate;
o come le perle della rugiada della mattina,
mai più trovata di nuovo.

Analysis

This poem, written by Robert Herrick, supports the idea of Carpe diem; our life is short and we must live it in the better way. The poet makes a comparison between people and daffodils because of the shortness of their life.
The poem is split into two stanzas and each stanza is made up of ten lines. Lines have an irregular length, are aligned and begin with capital letter.

There are six run-on lines: lines 1-2 (“we weep to see You haste away so soon”), lines 2-3 (“the early-rising sun Has not attain'd his noon”), lines 6-7, (“the hasting day Has run”), lines 9-10, (“we Will go with you along”), lines 15-16 (“We die As your hours do”) and lines 16-17 (“and dry Away”). There is an irregular rhyme scheme, which is: ABCBDDCEAC - FGHGIIHJKH. There is alliteration in line 1: “Fair Daffodils, we weep to see” and four end-stopped lines (lines 4-10-14-20).There are three repetitions of the word “stay” in line 5 and in line 11.

To sum up, I like this poem, because I agree with his life conception.

Robert Herrick

Robert Herrick was born at Cheapside, near London, and he died in Devon in 1629.
He was part of the Cavalier poets who admired Ben Jonson and then firstly he became duke Buckingham’s chamberlain, secondly Dean Prior’s vicar.
Hi did not want to be loyal to the Solemn League and Covenant so he was pushed away.
He was called again at service by Charles II in 1662.

His most famous literary work is called Hesperides which is a collection of spiritual lyric poems.
They revolve around: lives, customs and traditions in the countryside; seasons; love ad passion; youth; mythology.
The recipient of the poems are usually fictional young women like Julia or the Virgins.