Herrick, Robert
Herrick, Robert (1591–1674). Poet. Son of a Cheapside goldsmith, initially apprenticed to the trade but graduating at Cambridge (1617), Herrick was ordained in 1623. He returned to London and, in contact with other writers (especially Ben Jonson), musicians, and court wits, established himself as a poet. After accompanying the duke of Buckingham to La Rochelle (1627), he was admitted to the living of Dean Prior (Devon), where he spent most of the rest of his life. As an Anglican with strong royalist sympathies, he was ejected from the living in 1647 (retiring happily to Westminster) but was restored in 1662. Herrick's poetry was widely appreciated, appeared in miscellanies, and was set to music. From epigrams to epithalamions, though influenced by English folklore and covering a wide range of subjects, it was carefully polished yet retained much charm. A collected edition of his poems was published as Hesperides (1648).
A. S. Hargreaves
More From encyclopedia.com
NEARBY TERMS
Herrick, Robert
