A Study Guide for Robert Herrick's "Corinna's Going A-Maying"

By Gale and Cengage

A Study Guide for Robert Herrick's "Corinna's Going A-Maying," excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Poetry for Students. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Poetry for Students for all of your research needs.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cengage Learning - Gale
• Release date: Sep 28, 2016
• ISBN: 9781535821100

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Corinna's Going A-Maying

Robert Herrick

1648

Introduction

Robert Herrick's seventeenth-century poetry is known for its craftsmanship, lyricism, and blending of both spiritual and sensual elements. His poem Corinna's Going A-Maying is no exception. In this poem, the speaker alludes to his love affair with the subject of the poem, Corinna, and he beckons her to join in the springtime rituals traditionally celebrated in the month of May. In the course of describing the rites of spring enjoyed at this time through festivals held on May Day, the first of May, the speaker makes reference to Greek and Roman mythology, pagan rituals, and Christian beliefs. Although the tone of the poem connotes an air of celebration and joy, the final stanza of the work underscores the finite nature of youth and ultimately of life. The end of the poem is colored with implications of decay and death. On the surface, it is a rousing poem extolling the pleasures of love and lust, but in the course of the poem a darker, fuller picture of life is drawn, one in which the dangers of sin are hinted at and the certainty of death is detailed. The way the poem both has religious overtones and apparently endorses worldly pleasures has been the focus of much critical analysis, as has the poem's formal structure.

Corinna's Going A-Maying was originally published in the 1648 collection Hesperides: Or, The Works Both Humane & Divine of Robert Herrick. This large collection is available in The Complete Poetry of Robert Herrick, edited, introduced, and annotated by J. Max Patrick, published by New York University Press in 1963.

Author Biography

Although his exact birth date is unknown, records indicate that Herrick was baptized on August 24, 1591. He was the seventh child of Nicholas Herrick, a goldsmith, and Julian Stone Herrick, whose name has also been rendered as Juliana or Julia. When Herrick was about fourteen months old, his father fell or jumped from an upper-story window in the Herrick home. Initially, the fall was believed to be