Laws.

Who violates the customs, hurts the health,
Not of one man, but all the commonwealth.

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

The Way.

Robert Herrick, Simple Poetry

Fame Makes Us Forward.

Robert Herrick, Simple Poetry

Affliction.

Robert Herrick, Simple Poetry

Ambition.

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.

Laws.

When laws full power have to sway, we see
Little or no part there of tyranny.

Robert Herrick

Liberty.

Those ills that mortal men endure
So long, are capable of cure,
As they of freedom may be sure;
But, that denied, a grief, though small,
Shakes the whole roof, or ruins all.

Robert Herrick

Health.

Health is no other, as the learned hold,
But a just measure both of heat and cold.

Robert Herrick

To His Honoured Friend, M. John Weare, Councillor.

Did I or love, or could I others draw
To the indulgence of the rugged law,
The first foundation of that zeal should be
By reading all her paragraphs in thee,
Who dost so fitly with the laws unite,
As if you two were one hermaphrodite.
Nor courts[t] thou her because she's well attended
With wealth, but for those ends she was intended:
Which were, - and still her offices are known, -
Law is to give to ev'ry one his own;
To shore the feeble up against the strong,
To shield the stranger and the poor from wrong.
This was the founder's grave and good intent:
To keep the outcast in his tenement,
To free the orphan from that wolf-like man,
Who is his butcher more than guardian;
To dry the widow's tears, and stop her swoons,
By pouring balm and oil into her...

Robert Herrick

A Prognostic.

As many laws and lawyers do express
Nought but a kingdom's ill-affectedness;
Even so, those streets and houses do but show
Store of diseases where physicians flow.

Robert Herrick

Rules For Our Reach.

Men must have bounds how far to walk; for we
Are made far worse by lawless liberty.

Robert Herrick