Ill Government.

Preposterous is that government, and rude,
When kings obey the wilder multitude.

Robert Herrick

Robert Herrick was a 17th-century English lyric poet and cleric. He is known for his book of poems, "Hesperides," which includes the carpe diem poem "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time." His works are noted for their clarity, simplicity, and musical quality. Herrick was also a vicar of Dean Prior in Devon, despite being ejected during the English Civil War and later reinstated.

Robert Herrick

How Marigolds Came Yellow.

Robert Herrick, Simple Poetry

Sin.

Robert Herrick, Simple Poetry

To A Gentlewoman On Just Dealing.

Robert Herrick, Simple Poetry

An Ode For Him. (Ben Jonson.)

Robert Herrick, Simple Poetry

English

Suggested Poems

Explore a curated selection of verses that share themes, styles, and emotional resonance with the poem you've just read.

Present Government Grievous.

Men are suspicious, prone to discontent:
Subjects still loathe the present government.

Robert Herrick

The Power In The People.

Let kings command and do the best they may,
The saucy subjects still will bear the sway.

Robert Herrick

Foolishness.

In's Tusc'lans, Tully doth confess,
No plague there's like to foolishness.

Robert Herrick

Pleasures Pernicious.

Where pleasures rule a kingdom, never there
Is sober virtue seen to move her sphere.

Robert Herrick

Clemency.

For punishment in war it will suffice
If the chief author of the faction dies;
Let but few smart, but strike a fear through all;
Where the fault springs there let the judgment fall.

Robert Herrick

Duty To Tyrants.

Good princes must be pray'd for; for the bad
They must be borne with, and in rev'rence had.
Do they first pill thee, next pluck off thy skin?
Good children kiss the rods that punish sin.
Touch not the tyrant; let the gods alone
To strike him dead that but usurps a throne.

Robert Herrick