Both Shakespeare Robert Herrick’s poem “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” reminds me of Shakespeare’s hastening words, especially in Sonnet 1: ”

Shakespeare’s speaker addresses a man, urges him to have children, and in a chastising tone. Herrick’s speaker is more equivocating in its address. “The Virgins” only appear in the title; in the body of the poem, the speaker employs the second-person with “ye,” with rhyming platitudes that anyone might take to heart:

In the second stanza, the speaker’s perspective is cosmic: “The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun…” And the third stanza speaks broadly of “that age… when youth and blood are warmer.” Finally, the speaker seems to turn to “the virgins,” whom he cautions against chastity. But he does not–of course not!–suggest that they seize the day before they have married. The implication for a woman to share her youth and beauty requires a kind of flowery masking, as Herrick demonstrates on multiple levels in this poem. In urging this woman to share, the speaker’s worst must belie his own desire. But the man, “tender churl,” who does not beget heirs and propagate the race receives a bold, stern reminder of his responsibility: if he “mak’st waste in niggarding,” if he hoards his beauty and youth, then he will suffer, at least, in death (with no heirs).