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<HTML> <HEAD><TITLE>The Life of Robert Herrick (1591-1674)</TITLE> <META NAME="description" Content="Biography of Robert Herrick, seventeenth century Cavalier Poet and Son of Ben."> <META NAME="keywords" Content="Robert Herrick, Herrick, Renaissance, Restoration, Cromwell, metaphysical, seventeenth century, poetry, poesy, poems, poem, metaphysics, wisdom, Renaissance, English, Elizabethan, Jacobean, reformation, holy, book, books, teacher, university, Divinity, writer, author, satire, poet, poems, poetical, anthology, survey, college, study, book, books, cavalier, literature, costume, writing, sonnets, epigram, courses, SCA, tudor, author"> </HEAD> <BODY BACKGROUND="grayblue.jpg" BGCOLOR="#C2CDC4" LINK="#464D7C" VLINK="#000000"> <table width=100% cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr><td><img src="http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/marvell/invisiline.gif" hspace=10></td><td valign=top> <TABLE cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><TR><TD width=156><img src="invisiline.gif" hspace=7></td><td> <center><BR> <img src="lifetit.gif" alt="The Life of Robert Herrick (1591-1674)" border=0><BR> <BR clear=all> <table><tr><td> <font size=-1 face="Book Antiqua"> The greatest song-writer ever born of English race.<BR> <div align=right>A. C. Swinburne.<BR> </div> </td></tr></table><BR> </center><BR> <IMG SRC="deanprio.jpg" HSPACE=10 VSPACE=5 ALIGN=right>      Robert Herrick was born in <A HREF="http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/elizlondon.jpg" target="_new">Cheapside</a>, London, in 1591, the seventh child of Nicholas Herrick, a prosperous goldsmith. In November 1592, two days after making a will, Nicholas killed himself by jumping from the fourth-floor window of his house. The Queen's Almoner had to be paid a £220 fee for not to confiscate the Herrick estate for the crown as was usually the case with suicides. There is no record of Herrick attending school, although it is possible he attended <A HREF="http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/westminsterschool.htm" target="_new">Westminster School</a>.  In 1607 he became apprenticed to his uncle Sir William Herrick as a goldsmith.<P>       Herrick entered <A HREF="http://www.joh.cam.ac.uk/" target="_new">St. John's College, Cambridge</a> in 1613, graduated a Bachelor of Arts in 1617, and Master of Arts in 1620. He became the eldest of the "Sons of Ben", <A HREF="http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/cavalier.htm">Cavalier poets</a> who idolized <A HREF="http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/jonson/index.html">Ben Jonson</A>, mixing in literary circles in London. On April 24, 1623 Herrick was ordained an Episcopal minister and acted as chaplain to <A HREF="http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/villiers1.htm">Buckingham</a> on the expedition to the Île de Ré. In 1629 he was appointed by <A HREF="http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/kingcharles.htm">Charles I</a> to the living of <A HREF="http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/genuki/DEV/DeanPrior/">Dean Prior</a> in the diocese of Exeter, a post he reluctantly accepted. There, in Devon, he lived in the seclusion of country life, and wrote some of his best work, never completely ceasing, however, to long for the pleasures of London.<P>       In 1647, under the Commonwealth, he was expelled from the priory by the <A HREF="http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0840301.html">Protectorate</a> government for refusing the Solemn League and Covenant, and returned to London. In 1648 Herrick published his major collection, <EM>Hesperides</EM>, consisting of 1200 poems. Included separately in <EM>Hesperides</EM> was the subsection <EM>Noble Numbers</EM>, for the poems with sacred subjects. With the <A HREF="http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0841607.html">restoration</a> of <A HREF="http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/charles2.htm">Charles II</A> in 1660 he was returned to Devon where he died and was buried a bachelor in 1674 at the age of eighty-three. <P><br> <center>Visit <a href="pollardlife.htm">Pollard's "Life of Herrick"</a> for a lengthier biography!</center> <br><br> <BR><BR> <CENTER> <IMG SRC="http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/suckling/grayline.gif" vspace=10><BR> <table><tr><td> <FONT FACE="Univers, Arial" SIZE="-1"> Source: <blockquote> Jokinen, Anniina. "The Life of Robert Herrick." <I>Luminarium</I>.<BR>          26 Feb 2003. [Date you accessed the file].<BR> <<A HREF="http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/herrick/herribio.htm">http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/herrick/herribio.htm</a>><BR></FONT> </blockquote> </td></tr></table><BR> <IMG SRC="http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/suckling/grayline.gif" vspace=10><BR> <A HREF="index.html">Herrick</a> | <A HREF="herribib.htm">Works</a> | <A HREF="herriadd.htm">Links</a> | <A HREF="http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/sevenessay.htm#herrick">Essays</a> | <A HREF="http://www.luminarium.com/sevenlit/herribook.htm">Books</a> | <A HREF="http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/">17th C. Eng. Lit.</a><BR><BR> </CENTER> <UL> <TABLE><TR><TD><A HREF="index.html"> <IMG SRC="back.jpg" VSPACE=10 HSPACE=5 BORDER=0 ALT="Back"></A></TD><TD>to Robert Herrick</TD></TR></TABLE><P> <FONT SIZE=-2>   Site copyright ©1996-2007 Anniina Jokinen. All rights reserved.<BR>   Site created by <A HREF="mailto:anniina@luminarium.org">Anniina Jokinen</A> on August 20, 1996. 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