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, his metamorphosis as a sexual human being is showcased 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. The significance of these words is created by Herrick through his use of juxtaposition. The words captivity and slavery are antomynous to escape and freedom, and using them in the poem with similar imagery, creates the juxtaposition. His constant need for Lucia’s embrace and her need to enjoy his presence contradict his attraction to her powerlessness. The speaker wants Lucia to enjoy the action, but her need to escape is what makes him feel more attracted. Throughout the poem, the speaker refers to his …show more content…
He refers to his member as a “flesh” in the second to last stanza and continues to hyperbolize with its being, “More like a stock than a vine” (23). To compare his penis to a stock rather than a vine shows his blurred understanding of his member being larger and thicker than that of his fantasy. A stock can be defined as a root or the beginning of a plant, that comes from the ground. It is strong and holds the plant together, almost as a foundation, whereas a vine comes from the stock and can wither and die at a quicker rate. Herrick views his penis as the foundation of his life and the activities he decides to take part in. The stock’s foundation could be the positive or negative end result to his impotence or sexual