Delight in Disorder

Delight in Disorder by Robert Herrick

This poem presents many oxymoron's throughout. This would have to be due to the fact that the title presents an oxymoron as well and that the main point that the speaker is trying to deliver is as well, that there is beauty in disorder. The speaker is obviously looking at a women as he describes many of her different attire such as dress, lace, stomacher, erring  and ribbons. He describes all of these pieces of clothing as chaotic or wild in some way. He applies his idea of chaotic beauty to the woman with whom he is enraptured by. To describes her as having "wild civility", another oxymoron (Herrick 979). It is not as though the women is one very attractive babe dressed in a very messy outfit. It is just that the speaker is in such a state of awe that he takes in every little detail. The small, seemingly insignificant things, such as the ribbons in her hair, he notices and describes with loveliness. There is so much to admire that the speaker is "bewitched" by her (Herrick 979).