In his poem ‘To Daffodils’, Robert Herrick has used many similes in order to convey his ideas. A simile is an explicit comparison between two different things. It clearly states the similarity existing between two unlike things using such words as like, so, as, as-so, such, similarly, as if etc. Robert Herrick has compared the daffodils with the human beings. He says in this poem,
We have short time to stay, as you'.
He wants to reveal the idea that like the short life of the daffodils, human beings also have a short span of time on earth. He uses another simile to make a comparison between the spring and the human beings; he says,
“We have as short as spring”.
Here the poet has compared the youth period of human life with that of the spring season; it is the most pleasant and beautiful season but it only remains for a short span of time. The daffodils have a short spring and die very soon. Men have also very short youth and die very soon.
The poet further says that human life is as short as “the summer’s rain” and ”as the pearls of morning’s dew” which vanish away and never return again.
The poet has used imagery in this poem to convey his ideas. Imagery refers to the making of pictures in words, the pictorial quality of a literary work achieved through a collection of images. Imagery evokes a complex of emotional suggestions and communicates mood, tone and meaning. An image refers to something that can be achieved through the senses_ sight, hearing, smell, touch etc. An image can be a symbol. The poet has used images like “Fair daffodils”, ”summer’s rain” and ”pearls of morning's dew” and thus he has compared their lifespan with that of the human beings. Through these images the poet wants to reveal the idea that the daffodils, summer's rain and pearls of morning's dew pass away too early and human beings also do the same. The images “Fair daffodils“ and ”pearls of morning’s dew” also produce an idea of beauty that is not everlasting, something that is to be ruined. The poet wants to express the thought that life is short and beauty is transient.
Another technique which the poet has used in the poem to express his thoughts is symbolism. Symbolism refers to the conscious and artful use of symbols, objects, actions, or character meant to be taken both literally and as representative of some higher, more complex and abstract significance that lies beyond ordinary meaning. Symbol is usually something _ an object, a place, a character or an action – that stands for or suggests something eled. The poet has symbolized the short lifespan of human beings through revealing the short existence of the “Fair daffodils”. In the line ”We have as short a spring”, the ’spring’ symbolises the youth period of human life The poet has used an image ”hasting day” concerning the movement and time; here ’day’ becomes a symbol for life time; it hastes towards death.
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