Write about the poem Delight in Disorder by Robert Herrick: Close Reading

 Delight in Disorder by Robert Herrick

15. Write about the poem Delight in Disorder by Robert Herrick.

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 5

Enthralls the crimson stomacher,

A cuff neglectful, and thereby

Ribbons to flow confusedly;

A winning wave, deserving note,

In the tempestuous petticoat; 10

A careless shoestring, in whose tie

I see a wild civility;

Do more bewitch me than when art

Is too precise in every part.     [1648]

 

 

This poem was composed 350 years ago. In this poem, the speaker describes in detail a woman’s clothing — style, color, and fabric. Some of the vocabulary is unfamiliar to readers today, such as lawn and stomacher. Other words, such as petticoat, may be archaic. There is personification. The speaker notes the “fine distraction” of the scarf thrown over the woman’s shoulders, a “cuff” that is “neglectful,” ribbons that “flow confusedly,” and a “tempestuous petticoat.” The personification suggests that the clothes reflect qualities of the person wearing them. Similarly, the “erring lace” “[e]nthralls the crimson stomacher,” as if a mere decoration could take such deliberate action. Two oxymorons (paradoxes made up of two seemingly contradictory words) support the possibility that something is going on other than the literal description of clothing. The opening line refers to a “sweet disorder,” but most would consider disorder unsettling, hardly “sweet”; later, the speaker sees a “wild civility,” another seeming contradiction, because how can “civility” — or courteous behavior — be “wild”?

 

The words are used with passion: Kindles, wantonness, crimson, tempestuous, and bewitch. Alliteration is found in this poem: “Delight . . . Disorder,” “winning wave,” and “precise . . . part.” Alliteration brings order into the description of disorder.

 

The structure seems regular and predictable. The fourteen lines are presented in seven rhymed pairs, or couplets. The opening and closing couplets have exactly rhyming final syllables (“dress” / “wantonness” and “art” / “part”).

We can notice the neatly repeating parallel structure of lines 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11. However, there are inconsistencies within the poem. Some of the rhymes are only near rhymes (e.g., 11 and 12: “tie” does not rhyme with “civility”). The poem’s lines are in iambic tetrameter, but the rhythm is not always even. The evenness of the opening line, for instance (“A sweet disorder in the dress”) is violated by line 10 (“In the tempestuous

petticoat”). It seems Herrick’s contention that “disorder” can be “sweet” is reflected in the structure of the poem.

 

In this poem, Herrick might be reminding us that appearances can be deceiving, that perfection may not be as appealing as charming imperfections. Or, given the cultural mores of his time dictating strict outward propriety, he might be telling his readers that passion lurks (waits) just beneath the veneer (surface) of polite society.