TO A GENTLEWOMAN OBJECTING TO HIM HIS GRAY HAIRS:
STUDY QUESTIONS

• Does insulting a woman because she finds him unattractive count as “reverse psychology” or “being a petulant crybaby”?

• The rhyme scheme for this poem is aaabbccddeefggf. Do you think this is meant to follow some standard yet obscure poetic structure, or is it just the sound that Herrick made each morning when he looked at his shriveled old self in his own “looking-glass”?

• Critics often interpret the statement that she will “wear such frost and snow in your hair” to mean Herrick warning her that her hair color will turn gray. Use this line to make the case that poets in the 1600s were not only sources of human insight and spry, uplifting verse, but were also meteorologists.

• In lines 10 and 11 Herrick rhymes “show” with “grew.” Does he do this intentionally, to emphasize the passage of time that he expects the woman to become aware of suddenly, or did he just hear things funny on account of being deaf, along with his gray hair and (presumably) rotting yellow teeth?

•  From what you have seen in this poem, do you think the woman despises the speaker because his hair is gray, or might his being a pushy, rude jerk-hole have something to do with it?