To The Virgins To Make Much Of

Time Essay, Research Paper

The title To the Birgsin, to Make Much of Time, gives the hint as to the meaning of the work. We gleam from the title that Time is going to be significant. However, we cannot know what the context of time is without benefit of reading further. We also learn that Virgins, play an integral part of the work. Somehow the two become connected and reflect innocence and time.

The thoughts of time going quickly refect throughout the poem. The opening stanza gives the illumination of time going quickly and soon to disappear. The speaker continues this theme through the entire work. In stanza two we are shown the day is coming to an end as well as the fact that life ends as well. The third stanza references the fact that our prime years are growing shorter and once gone cannot be retrieved. The final stanza supports the third with the lines:

For having lost but once your prime,

You may forever tarry.

Once your prime is a statement of lost innocence. This reflects upon the Virgins, in relationship to the loss of innocence. This stanza rallies the girls to hurry and act fast to sieze their opportunity for marriage.