Delight in Disorder
By: Robert Herrick

This brief poem describes a girl that is apparently attractive in the narrator's opinion.  The girl wears dresses, lace, ribbons, etc.  She tries to dress very girly.  However, she doesn't do a good job of keeping her appearance looking orderly.  For example, her appearance is a "sweet disorder in the dress" (979).  Also, the narrator observes that the girl's ribbons "flow confusedly" (979).  Regardless of the unkempt look of the girl, the narrator still finds her to be attractive and a beauty.  Herrick uses oxymorons to describe the girl.  "Sweet disorder" is an example of this.  We wouldn't normally associate these two words together because a disorder isn't sweet- it's more of a negative term.  Another oxymoron is "wildly civility."  These two words are pretty much complete opposites.  When we think of civility, we often think of order and structure.  Putting "wildly" with this word suggests that the girl has a wild side to her.  The use of this literary technique further enforces the fact that this girl is disorderly in her appearance.  However, the narrator sees past this and still finds her to be a very beautiful girl.