Carpe Diem

Literary/ Cultural Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)
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  • The Literary Encyclopedia. WORLD HISTORY AND IDEAS: A CROSS-CULTURAL VOLUME.

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A poem advising someone to “Seize the day”. Usually the genre is addressed by a man to a young woman who is urged to stop prevaricating in sexual or emotional matters. Marvel’s “To his Coy Mistress” is a famous example:

Had we but world enough, and time, his coyness Lady were no crime. We would sit down, and think which way To walk, and pass our long love’s day. Thou by the Indian Ganges side Should’st rubies find; I by the tide Of Humber would complain. I would Love you ten years before the Flood; And you should if you please refuse Till the conversion of the Jews. My vegetable love should grow Vaster then empires, and more slow. An hundred years should go to praise Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze. Two hundred to adore each breast. But thirty thousand to the rest.

255 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Carpe Diem". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 November 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=162, accessed 19 March 2024.]

162 Carpe Diem 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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