LITERATURE QUESTIONS
TRANSCENDENTALISM LITERATURE
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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Virgins AKA young people
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The speaker’s friend
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all women
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the reader
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a flower
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Detailed explanation-1: -’Gather ye rosebuds while ye may’ has become synonymous with the Latin sentiment expressed by Horace: carpe diem, ‘seize the day’. Don’t tarry or waste time: you get just one life, so grasp the nettle and make the most of it.
Detailed explanation-2: -Then be not coy, but use your time, And while ye may, go marry: Since youth is fleeting, old age sucks, and death is always right around the corner, the speaker urges the virgins to make use of what they have ("use your time") while they still can. In other words, don’t be “coy, ” meaning shy, reserved, or inactive.
Detailed explanation-3: -He is advising people to take advantage of life while they are young: Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying; And this same flower that smiles today. Tomorrow will be dying.
Detailed explanation-4: -Gather ye rosebuds while ye may is the first line from the poem “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” by Robert Herrick. The words come originally from the Book of Wisdom in the Bible, chapter 2, verse 8.