To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time" is a poem written by English Cavalier poet Robert Herrick in the 17th century. The poem is in the genre of "carpe diem", Latin for "seize the day". It goes as follows: First published in 1648 as number 208 in a volume of verse entitled "Hesperides", it is perhaps one of the most famous poems to extol the notion of "carpe diem". "Carpe diem" expresses a philosophy that recognizes the brevity of life and therefore the need to live for and in the moment.
What Is Literature? What Is Literature? What Is Literature? (), also published as "Literature and Existentialism",) is an essay by French philosopher and novelist Jean-Paul Sartre, published by Gallimard in 1948. Initially published in freestanding essays across French literary journals "Les Temps modernes", "Situations I" and "Situations II", essays "What is Writing?" and "Why Write?" were translated into English and published by the Paris-based literary journal Transition 1948. The English translation by Bernard Frechtman was published in 1950. Sartre attempts to devise an understanding of the effect literature has on those who are subjected to it. In the foreword Sartre addresses his critics