The Hesperides & Noble Numbers

What happens when a poet turns to his Muse, then addresses his book as if it were setting out on its own? Robert Herrick begins with just that playful exchange.

Published in 1648, Hesperides and Noble Numbers gathers Herrick’s poems from a world of gardens, courtly visits, country feasts and Christian devotion. Here, love’s bright intrigues sit beside the hour-glass, the passing seasons and the thought of mortality; a rose or a May morning can become both an invitation to delight and a reminder that delight will not last. Herrick’s voice moves lightly between mischief, tenderness and reverence, finding poetry in lovers’ quarrels, flowers, music and everyday pleasures. Among these shifting moods, what should we cherish while the day is still ours?

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