Love Unit: Delight in Disorder

"Delight in Disorder"
Robert Herrick

Obviously, tidiness is not among the preferred characteristics of the speaker.  Through oxymoron, the contrast between what society demands from a woman and what the speaker desires is made clear.

Throughout the poem, the speaker develops a favorable tone almost entirely through diction and structure.  Words describing a woman's dress like "wantonness", "thrown", "distraction", and "confusedly" describe qualities of spontaneity and wildness.  Additionally, these qualities are glorified through words like "sweet", "winning", and "deserving".  Along with explicit glorifications, the structure of the poem itself reflects the speakers favorite carefree qualities.  Even though the poem itself was short, a relatively high amount of lines are present.  Like the woman's dress, the poem has a wild structure with multiple enjambments that still allow the poem to flow.

Even now, society tends to pass judgment on wild dress.  During the time the poem was written, elaborate dresses and precise matching were required by the upper classes.  Likewise, the contemporary media tends to favor fashions that are precisely designed by professionals with decades of study and practice.  However, the speaker contradicts this timeless demand:  "A careless shoestring, in whose tie I see a wild civility..." (Herrick, 979).  Although wild and civil contain almost opposite connotations, the speaker relates the two.  He claims that the wild dress he finds beautiful is not that of barbarians, but that of sophisticated society.