carpe diem

carpe diem kärˈpĕ dēˈĕm [key], a descriptive term for literature that urges readers to live for the moment [from the Latin phrase “seize the day,” used by Horace]. The theme, which was widely used in 16th- and 17th-century love poetry, is best exemplified by a familiar stanza from Robert Herrick's “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”:Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,Old time is still a-flying;And this same flower that smiles todayTomorrow will be dying.Shakespeare's version of the theme takes the following form in Twelfth Night:What is love? 'Tis not hereafter;Present mirth has present laughter;What's to come is still unsure.In delay there lies no plenty,Then come and kiss me sweet and twenty;Youth's a stuff will not endure.

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