Carpe Diem Poetry:

1. Carpe Diem Poetry: Seize the Day!

2. Carpe Diem • Literally means, “pluck the day” as in “plucking” or pulling flowers • Get it? Gather moments in life like you would gather flowers? • But remember, these moments don’t last long; flowers cut off from the roots die soon…

3. Origins • Attributed to the ancient Roman poet Horace, 65 B.C.E. • Composed a book of poems entitled “Odes” Scale back your long hopes to a short period. While we speak, time is envious and is running away from us. Seize the day, trusting little in the future.

4. Other Versions of This Same Theme • “Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we will die.” --biblical reference (Isaiah) • "collige, virgo, rosas" appears in a Virgil (another classical Roman poet) poem, meaning "gather, girl, the roses."

5. Carpe Diem Defined… • What is the original purpose of language? (Answer this on your notebook paper.)

6. Carpe Diem Defined… • Right! To woo women… • Woo means to convince or persuade; in the Renaissance, the purpose of a carpe diem poem was to persuade a young woman to make love…

7. Carpe Diem (poetic sense) • A poem intended to persuade a young woman to become a lover by convincing her that time (and most usually her beauty) is fleeting (quickly disappearing).

8. Another Approach… • “Other approaches to carpe diem encourage the reader to transcend the mundane, recognize the power of each moment, however brief, and value possibility for as long as possibility exists.”—Academy of American Poets

9. Modern/Contemporary Approach • Because carpe diem begins with the premise that life is short, modern readers see this as “possibility” but also “futility” (pointlessness)

10. Existentialism • In the literary world, when life is seen as pointless and useless, we have entered the school of existential thought (existentialism) • Life in this world is a big “so what?” Life is short and doesn’t matter, so “who cares?”

11. Grown Up Definition • The existential dilemma suggested by carpe diem includes a sense of helplessness and senselessness, sentiments which are often expressed in a poet's resignation to a life filled with inexplicable losses and hardships.—Academy of American Poets

12. Renaissance Carpe Diem • Let’s begin in the Renaissance with Robert Herrick’s poem, “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time.”

13. GATHER ye rosebuds while ye may,     Old time is still a-flying : And this same flower that smiles today     To-morrow will be dying. “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”

14. The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,     The higher he's a-getting,The sooner will his race be run,     And nearer he's to setting. “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”

15. That age is best which is the first,     When youth and blood are warmer ; But being spent, the worse, and worst     Times still succeed the former. “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”

16. Then be not coy, but use your time,     And while ye may go marry : For having lost but once your prime     You may for ever tarry. “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”

17. Explain the idea of carpe diem in this poem.