Carpe Diem Poetry: Herrick "To the Virgins" and Marvell "To His Coy Mistress"

This mini-unit is designed for an AP Literature, honors, or CP English class.

This lesson begins with background information about the poets and a brief analysis on the carpe diem theme. After reading the information, there is a pre-writing activity asking students to complete their own carpe diem found poem from a journal that they will write.

Included are two different question sets for both poems, “To the Virgins, Make Much of Time,” and “To His Coy Mistress.” The first one in each set is designed for an college prep English class, and the second one is designed for an honors, AP, pre-AP, or IB class. The second question set discusses meter and requires students to have prior knowledge about Helios, the Greek god of the sun, and his journey in his chariot across the sky.

The honors or AP unit ends with an in class timed writing activity.