Carpe Diem Philosophy

The philosophy of carpe diem was a popular theme in the Renaissance era, as well as in today 's era. According to the Webster 's dictionary, carpe diem means the enjoyment of the pleasures of the moment without concern for the future. In the Renaissance era, the theme is expressed in the poems “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” by Robert Herrick, “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell, and “Meditation 17” by John Donne. In today’s era, the theme is expressed through many types of art works, such as, the song “We’ve Got Tonight” by Bob Seger. In both the Renaissance era and today’s era, the term carpe diem can apply to love, sex, and the urgency to be with someone. The use of carpe diem as love, is shown through both eras as a way to tell others to not lose the chance at love. In the Renaissance era, this shown in the poem written by Robert Herrick. In the poem, Herrick tells the reader to not wait and get married as soon as possible. His reasoning behind this is that peoples’ prime time will end before they know, therefore resulting in them loses their chance at love. This same concept is portrayed in the song written by Seger. In the song, Seger writes “I’ve longed for love”, meaning that he had feelings for a woman, but he never acted upon them. Seger not taking advantage of the moment he had resulted in him being lonely, which he expresses in the song by saying, “I’ve been so lonely”. Finding love right away and getting married right away, can be dangerous though