Write a poem that explains why youth is better than age, using examples from nature to prove your point. Give your poem a light, buoyant, youthful tone, as Herrick does.

Compare this poem to "Virtue," by George Herbert. What is the perspective each poem takes toward death? Toward youth? Would the speaker in Herbert's poem agree with the one in Herrick's, or would he think that gathering rosebuds is pointless? Would Herrick's speaker agree with Herbert's?

How does the tone of the poem differ in the first and last stanzas? What does this tell you about the poem's speaker?