The Poetry of Robert Herrick: who was Julia?

By Rob Godfrey

Robert Herrick was born in London in 1591 and died in 1674 at the age of 83, which is quite remarkable considering that he lived through a war with the French, the English Civil War and outbreaks of the Black Death. These were very troubled times and in 1648, when Herrick was in his late fifties, he published his life’s work in a volume of poetry called 'Hesperides: Or, The Works Both Humane & Divine'. Over the centuries, Herrick has often been dismissed as a ‘minor poet’ yet Hesperides contains some of the best known lines in English poetry, amongst which are these from 'To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time':

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.

There are just over 1,400 poems in 'Hesperides: Or, The Works Both Humane & Divine'. Seventy four of them mention a woman called Julia. There are many other poems in the collection that don’t actually name Julia yet are obviously about her. Herrick’s obsession with this woman accounts for about 10% of the poetry in Hesperides, which prompts an oft asked question: who was Julia? Nothing is known about her. There is no historical record. This extended essay examines Herrick’s life and his poetry and the Julia poems in an attempt to discover the real Julia, and comes to a somewhat startling conclusion.

The essay runs to approx. 16,000 words and is followed by a selection of 40 Herrick poems.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Rob Godfrey
• Release date: Oct 23, 2012
• ISBN: 9781301174478

Rob Godfrey

Rob Godfrey was born in London on March 21st 1964. After travelling the world and having various adventures he is now pausing in a quiet part of south west France.

Book preview

The Poetry of Robert Herrick – who was Julia?

Rob Godfrey

Introduction

1) The life and times of Robert Herrick

2) Herrick the poet

3) Who was Julia?

4) A selection of Herrick’s poetry

Rob Godfrey was born in London in 1964, just across the river Thames from where Robert Herrick was born almost 400 years earlier. Rob Godfrey has also been known to write poetry.

The image on the cover of this book is taken from John William Waterhouse's 1909 painting 'Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May', which was inspired by Robert Herrick's poem To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time.

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The Poetry of Robert Herrick – who was Julia?

By Rob Godfrey

Copyright 2012 Rob Godfrey

Smashwords Edition

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Introduction

Robert Herrick was born in London in 1591 and died in 1674 at the age of 83, which is quite remarkable considering that he lived through a war with the French, the English Civil War and outbreaks of the Black Death. These were very troubled times and in 1648, when Herrick was in his late fifties, he published his life’s work in a volume of poetry called Hesperides: Or, The Works Both Humane & Divine. Over the centuries, Herrick has often been dismissed as a ‘minor poet’ yet Hesperides contains some of the best known lines in English poetry, amongst which are these from To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time:

Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,

Old Time is still a-flying;

And this same flower that smiles today

Tomorrow will be dying.

There are just over 1,400 poems in Hesperides: Or, The Works Both Humane & Divine. Seventy four of them mention a woman called Julia. There are many other poems in the collection that don’t actually name Julia yet are obviously about her. Herrick’s obsession with this woman accounts for about 10% of the poetry in Hesperides, which prompts an oft asked question: who was Julia? Nothing is known about her. There is no historical record. This essay examines Herrick’s life and his poetry and the Julia poems in an attempt to discover the real Julia, and comes to a somewhat startling conclusion.

Rob Godfrey

Charente, France 2012

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The life and times of Robert Herrick

(Note: biographical information in this chapter is taken from Tom Cain’s 2004 Biography of Robert Herrick, Thomas Bailey Aldrich’s essay about Herrick in Century Magazine in 1900 and Alfred Pollard’s introduction to the 1891 The Works of Robert Herrick Vol 1.)

When Robert Herrick was born in 1591, Elizabeth I, daughter of Henry VIII, occupied the throne, William Shakespeare was writing Titus Andronicus, the Spanish Armada had been defeated three years earlier, Mary Queen of Scots had recently been beheaded (so ending the Scottish Catholic rebellion) and the Tudors were still trying to conquer Ireland. In 1591, Elizabeth’s forces also tried to invade France, with disasterous results. London was in the grip of the Black Death and theatres were closed in an attempt to stop the spread of the disease, and as a result of the Witchcraft Acts some women were being hanged for being in league with the devil.

Herrick came into this world in Cheapside, in what is now the financial district of London. The Herricks hailed from Leicester and were wealthy ironmongers. Robert Herrick’s father, Nicholas, had moved to London, where he became a successful jeweller and money-lender. Robert Herrick was the fifth surviving child and was born into quite privileged circumstances. However, when Herrick was less than two years old tragedy struck: his father fell to his death from an upper storey of their house. The Almoner recorded that Nicholas Herrick ‘did throwe himself forthe of a garret windowe…whereby he did kill and destroye himself’. Back then there were harsh laws against suicide and people who killed themselves were not allowed to be buried in hallowed ground. The Herricks, being well-to-do people, had Nicholas’ apparent suicide hushed-up. He was buried the next day in an unmarked grave in the grounds of St. Vedast church.

Why did a wealthy, successful man like Nicholas Herrick kill himself? Details are very sketchy. What is known is that Nicholas made a will two days before he died in which he said: ‘...of perfecte memorie in soule but sicke in Bodie’. Perhaps Nicholas knew he had the plague and preferred suicide to a lingering, painful death? It can only be conjecture. There then followed a legal wrangle over Nicholas’ estate, because the law stated that anyone who killed themselves had their finances taken by the Crown. The family would be left with nothing: the penalty for suicide. The Almoner, Richard Fletcher, Bishop of Bristol, was bunged £200 and eventually agreed to a lesser verdict: ‘whither the death … be found by the Coroners enquest to have been casuall & accidentall or ells a wilfull murdering & making away of himself’. Fletcher’s decision freed an estate worth £3,422, which was quite a tidy sum in the 1590s.

One third of the estate was to go to Herrick’s mother, Juliana, the other two thirds to the children. Juliana contested the will and eventually received £1300, which was rather more than a third. Juliana took the youngest two children and went to live with her sister in Hampton. Herrick and his two older brothers were parcelled out to their uncle, William Herrick. Thus at barely two years of age Robert Herrick had lost his father and no longer had a mother caring for him.

William Herrick, having been an apprentice to his brother Nicholas, was a successful goldsmith, jeweller and money-lender living in Westminster. William was well connected via his wife, Joan May, a stern Presbyterian who was related to the future Privy Councillor Humphrey May and the poet Tom May. There are