Delight in Disorder

Robert Herrick used an oxymoron as the central idea of his poem Delight in Disorder. This oxymoron is found right in the first sentence of the poem. "sweet disorder" (Herrick, 979). The words "sweet" and "disorder" seem like they wouldn't go together at all. However, the speaker of this poem is placing these words together to say that he likes disorder. Along with this, the speaker makes references to articles of clothing several times throughout the poem. I interpretted this poem to mean that the speaker prefers his women to be natural and to just be themselves. The speaker does not think that the extra clothes and extra efforts on appearance matter in terms of his love. He thinks they are just pointless. I inferred this from his phrases "ribbons to throw confusedly" (Herrick, 979) and "in the tempestuous petticoat" (Herrick, 979). He also compares a linen scarf to a distraction.