Poetry Dictionary

Carpe Diem

(KAHR-peh DEE-em)

Latin for "seize the day," a common motif in lyric verse throughout the history of poetry, with the emphasis on making the most of current pleasures because life is short and time is flying, as in Robert Herrick's To the Virgins or Edward Fitzgerald's The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám.

References

• Poetry Dictionary
• Words beginning with the letter C
• Types of Poetry