Upon Shift.

Shift now has cast his clothes: got all things new;
Save but his hat, and that he cannot mew.

Robert Herrick

Robert Herrick was a 17th-century English lyric poet and cleric. He is known for his book of poems, "Hesperides," which includes the carpe diem poem "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time." His works are noted for their clarity, simplicity, and musical quality. Herrick was also a vicar of Dean Prior in Devon, despite being ejected during the English Civil War and later reinstated.

Robert Herrick

A Dialogue Betwixt Himself And Mistress Eliza Wheeler, Under The Name Of Amarillis

Robert Herrick, Simple Poetry

The Jimmall Ring Or True-Love Knot.

Robert Herrick, Simple Poetry

Maids' Nays Are Nothing.

Robert Herrick, Simple Poetry

The Spell.

Robert Herrick, Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

Upon Skrew. Epig.

Skrew lives by shifts; yet swears by no small oaths
For all his shifts he cannot shift his clothes.

Robert Herrick

His Change.

My many cares and much distress
Has made me like a wilderness;
Or, discompos'd, I'm like a rude
And all confused multitude:
Out of my comely manners worn,
And, as in means, in mind all torn.

Robert Herrick

Upon Cuts.

If wounds in clothes Cuts calls his rags, 'tis clear
His linings are the matter running there.

Robert Herrick

Upon Slouch.

Slouch he packs up, and goes to several fairs,
And weekly markets for to sell his wares:
Meantime that he from place to place does roam,
His wife her own ware sells as fast at home.

Robert Herrick

Upon Himself Being Buried.

Let me sleep this night away,
Till the dawning of the day;
Then at th' opening of mine eyes
I, and all the world, shall rise.

Robert Herrick

Upon Trap.

Trap of a player turn'd a priest now is:
Behold a sudden metamorphosis.
If tithe-pigs fail, then will he shift the scene,
And from a priest turn player once again.

Robert Herrick