The Vine By Herrick Analysis

In the poem “The Vine” by Robert Herrick, Herrick battles with his waking moments in contrast to his dream that involves his sexual domination over a woman named, Lucia. The use of hyperbolic metaphors, suggestive tones, and the powerful imagery of his comparisons, show an important sense of himself as a sexually dominant man. Throughout the poem, Herrick showcases his metamorphosis as a sexual human being through him conquering his impotence and taking control of his dominant sexuality.

Herrick’s diction shows the relationship with words such as captivity, slavery, and quite often, the twisting of greenery versus its violent need to escape. Herrick creates a significance of these words through his use of juxtaposition. The words captivity

To compare Lucia to Young Bacchus, is a resemblance of Herrick’s inability to view Lucia as a powerful woman figure, but instead as a young boy who is rather unpredictable and mythological. To trace back the significance of Young Bacchus, would be to go back to Greek mythology. Bacchus, otherwise known as Dionysus, was the god of wine, joy, and fertility. Much like wine and its unreliable effects, so were the emotions of Dionysus. He was awfully unpredictable with his personality and seen as being either entirely too joyous or extremely bitter. These characteristics are the stereotypical character traits for women, which would not be surprising to be in the thoughts of

Herrick becomes excited sexally by her surprise of his large member, have it be a real woman or daylight itself. He surprises himself for being able to please her and have her become aroused. After this moment, he compares Lucia to Young Bacchus being “ravished by his tree” (13). This moment demonstrates his fresh reaction to a woman, or daylight, being excited about his member and his ability to perform sexually; however, if the reader views Herrick as not being impotent and in fact enjoying “surprising” Lucia for other reasons, it may display times of questionable assault on Lucia. To view the poem sympathetically, such as Herrick being impotent and unable to arouse a woman, would be best and most analytically