He was born on August 24, 1591, Robert Herrick was the seventh child and fourth son born to a London goldsmith. Herrick began a ten-year apprenticeship with his uncle. The apprenticeship ended after only six years, and Herrick, at age twenty-two, matriculated at Saint John’s College, Cambridge. He graduated in 1617.
Over the next decade, Herrick became a disciple of Ben Jonson, about whom he wrote five poems. In 1623 Herrick took holy orders, and six years later, he became vicar of Dean Prior in Devonshire. His post carried a term for a total of thirty-one years, until his death in October 1674. He never married, and many of the women mentioned in his poems are thought to have been fictional.