Delight in Disorder
By Robert Herrick (1591-1674)
Type of
Work and Publication Year summary,theme
......."Delight
in Disorder" is a fourteen-line lyric poem. John Williams and F.
Eglesfield published the poem in London in 1648 as part of Hesperides: Or,
The Works Both Humane & Divine of Robert Herrick Esq, a collection of
Herrick's poems.
.......In
this poem, Herrick presents the theme that beauty is at its most alluring when
it is in disarray, like flaming October leaves along a footpath or a
"winning wave (deserving note) / In the
tempestuous petticoat" (lines 9 and 10). This is a popular theme in
literature, as the following quotations—all similar in meaning to Herrick's
observation—testify:
There is no excellent
beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion.—Sir Francis Bacon
(1561-1626).
Give me a look, give me a face / That makes
simplicity a grace; / Robes loosely flowing, hair as free.—Ben Jonson
(1572-1637).
The absence of flaw in beauty is itself a
flaw.—Havelock Ellis (1859-1939).
In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be
contorted, bent in weird ways, and they're still beautiful.—Alice Walker (1944- ).
.......Another way of stating the theme is
that imperfections and inconsistencies can enhance the appeal of a person, a
place, a thing, an action, or an idea. For example, an imperfection—a
crack—helps make the Liberty Bell one of Philadelphia's most popular tourist
attractions. Likewise, a very noticeable imperfection helps make the Leaning
Tower of Pisa one of Italy's foremost tourist draws. A single mole on the cheek
of a beautiful woman tends to increase rather than diminish her beauty. And
graying temples can turn a middle-aged man into a distinguished gentleman. In
art, outstanding paintings often position the focal point away from
"perfect center." Examples are Claude Monet's Impression, soleil
levant, Edvard Munch's The Scream, and Honoré Daumier's Der Maler. In
modern fashion, only faded jeans—or jeans with holes in the knees—will do.
Young men must display a slightly whiskered face—young women, tousled hair.
.
A
sweet disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes a wantonness:
A lawn1 about the shoulders
thrown
Into a fine distraction:
An erring lace which here and there
Enthrals the crimson stomacher:2
A cuff neglectful, and thereby
Ribbons to flow confusedly:
A winning wave (deserving note)
In the tempestuous petticoat:
A careless shoe-string, in whose tie
I see a wild civility:
Do more bewitch me than when art
Is too precise in every part.
1...lawn: Sheer cotton or linen fabric used in
clothing.
2...stomacher (STUM uh ker): Stiff
cloth, often adorned with jewels or embroidery, that covers the chest and
abdomen of women or men.
..
.......The
tone is light and playful.
.
Technique as Reflection of Content
.......Robert Herrick formatted “Delight in
Disorder” to reflect its content—that is, he deliberately inserted technical
imperfections in order to create “sweet disorder” (line 1). Notice, for
example, that the end rhyme is inconsistent. Lines 1 and 2 end with corresponding
sounds, as do lines 9 and 10 and lines 13 and 14. But the other pairs of lines
contain only approximate rhymes that require the reader to alter the
traditional pronunciation to maintain the rhyme scheme. (See End Rhyme, below,
for further information.) Notice also that the metric pattern varies in lines 2
and 8. (See Meter, below.)
.......The
poem consists of seven couplets. (A couplet is a pair of rhyming lines.)
However, the rhyme scheme requires the reader to alter the pronunciation of the
final syllable of some words. Here is the poem with the rhyming syllables
highlighted.
A sweet disorder in the dress
Kindles in clothes a wantonness:
A lawn about the shoulders thrown
Into a fine distraction:.............................................
(Pronounce the o in distraction long, as in lone, to rhyme
with the o in thrown)
An erring lace which here and there
Enthrals the crimson stomacher:.............................. (Pronounce the er
in stomacher like the er in there)
A cuff neglectful, and thereby
Ribbons to flow confusedly:......................................
(Pronounce the y in confusedly like the y in thereby)
A winning wave (deserving note)
In the tempestuous petticoat:
A careless shoe-string, in whose tie
I see a wild civility:...................................................
(Pronounce the y in civility like the ie in tie)
Do more bewitch me than when art
Is too precise in every part.
Internal
Rhyme
.......Herrick
also uses internal rhyme in the poem. In the following lines, the rhyming
vowels are highlighted.
Kindles in clothes a wantonness (line 2)
Enthrals the crimson stomacher: (line 6)
Ribbons
to flow confusedly:
(line 8)
In the tempestuous petticoat: (line 10)
A careless shoe-string, in whose tie (line 11)
I see a wild
civility (line 12)
.......Herrick wrote the poem mainly in iambic
tetrameter. A line of iambic tetrameter has eight syllables, or four feet. An
iambic foot, or iamb, consists of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed
syllable. The first line of the poem demonstrates the pattern.
......1...............2.............3...............4......
A SWEET..|..dis
OR..|.. der
IN..|..the
DRESS
.......However, although lines 2 and 8
follow the tetrameter pattern, they veer from the iambic pattern. Here is why:
Each of these lines opens with a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed
syllable. (A stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable constitutes a
trochee.)
...................1...................2.................3..............4
Line 2: ...KIN dles..|..in CLOTHES..|..a WAN,..|..ton ESS..
...................1..................2..............3.............4
Line 8:...RIB bons..|..to FLOW..|..con FU..|..sed LY
Note that
the first foot of line 1 (a SWEET) is an iamb. On the other hand, the first
foot of line 2 (KIN dles) is a trochee, as is the first foot (RIB bons) of line
8
.......Herrick
achieves a pleasing structural balance in the poem by doing the following:
- Presenting the lines in seven
couplets, for a total of fourteen lines.
- Giving each line eight
syllables. (See Technique, above, for slight inconsistencies in this
format.)
- Using parallel structure at the
beginning of lines 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11. Each of these lines begins with a
definite article followed by a noun or an adjective-noun combination: a
lawn, an erring lace, a cuff neglectful, a winning
wave, and a careless shoestring.
- Writing opening and closing
couplets with exactly rhyming final syllables: -ess (lines 1 and 2)
and art and -art (lines 13 and 14).
.......Following
are examples of figures of speech in the poem
Alliteration
disorder
in the dress (line 1)
Kindles in clothes (line 2)
crimson stomacher (line 6)
winning wave
(line 9)
Do more bewitch me (line 13)
precise in every part (line 14)
tempestuous
petticoat (line 10)
Comparison of the petticoat to a storm (tempest), perhaps because it blows
in the wind
Paradox
wild
civility (line 12)