1035. Twelfth Night: Or, King and Queen
Now, now the mirth comesWith the cake full of plums,Where bean's the king of the sport here;Beside we must know,The pea alsoMust revel, as queen, in the court here.
Begin then to choose,This night as ye use,Who shall for the present delight here,Be a king by the lot,And who shall notBe Twelfth-day queen for the night here.
Which known, let us makeJoy-sops with the cake;And let not a man then be seen here,Who unurg'd will not drinkTo the base from the brinkA health to the king and the queen here.
Next crown the bowl fullWith gentle lamb's wool:Add sugar, nutmeg, and ginger,With store of ale too;And thus ye must doTo make the wassail a swinger.
Give then to the kingAnd queen wassailing:And though with ale ye be whet here,Yet part ye from hence,As free from offenceAs when ye innocent met here.
Words in this poem
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- brink n.
- The edge, margin, or border of a steep place, as of a precipice; a bank or edge, as of a river or pit; a verge; a border; as, the brink of a chasm. Also Fig. [Dan. brink edge, verge; akin to Sw. brink declivity, hill, Icel. brekka; cf. LG. brink a grassy hill, W. bryn hill, bryncyn hillock.]
- swinger n.
- One who swings or whirls.
- whet v. t.
- To rub or on with some substance, as a piece of stone, for the purpose of sharpening; to sharpen by attrition; as, to whet a knife. [AS. hwettan; akin to D. wetten, G. wetzen, OHG. wezzen, Icel. hvetja, Sw. vättja, and AS. hwæt vigorous, brave, OS. hwat, OHG. waz, was, sharp, Icel. hvatr, bol]
- offence n.
- The act of offending in any sense; esp., a crime or a sin, an affront or an injury. [F., fr. L. offensa. See Offend.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
1035. Twelfth Night: Or, King and Queen is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Hesperides & Noble Numbers: Vol. 1 and 2, Project Gutenberg ebook #22421; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Robert Herrick, 1035. Twelfth Night: Or, King and Queen, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/1035-twelfth-night-or-king-and-queen.html, id L05935.
Form and metre
1035. Twelfth Night: Or, King and Queen is 30 lines in 5 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 3 of its 5 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 72%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 AAB--B comesA · plumsA · hereB · know · also · hereB
- 2 AABCCB chooseA · useA · hereB · lotC · notC · hereB
- 3 AABCCB makeA · cakeA · hereB · drinkC · brinkC · hereB
- 4 AA-BB- fullA · woolA · ginger · tooB · doB · swinger
- 5 AABCCB kingA · wassailingA · hereB · henceC · offenceC · hereB
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Now, now the mirth comes | 5 | ····· |
| With the cake full of plums, | 6 | ······ |
| Where bean's the king of the sport here; | 8 | ········ |
| Beside we must know, | 5 | ˘/··· |
| The pea also | 4 | ··/˘ |
| Must revel, as queen, in the court here. | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Begin then to choose, | 5 | ˘/··· |
| This night as ye use, | 5 | ····· |
| Who shall for the present delight here, | 9 | ····˘/˘/· |
| Be a king by the lot, | 6 | ······ |
| And who shall not | 4 | ···· |
| Be Twelfth-day queen for the night here. | 8 | ········ |
| Which known, let us make | 5 | ····· |
| Joy-sops with the cake; | 5 | ····· |
| And let not a man then be seen here, | 9 | ········· |
| Who unurg'd will not drink | 6 | ······ |
| To the base from the brink | 6 | ······ |
| A health to the king and the queen here. | 9 | ········· |
| Next crown the bowl full | 5 | ····· |
| With gentle lamb's wool: | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Add sugar, nutmeg, and ginger, | 8 | ·/˘/··/˘ |
| With store of ale too; | 5 | ····· |
| And thus ye must do | 5 | ····· |
| To make the wassail a swinger. | 8 | ···/˘·/˘ |
| Give then to the king | 5 | ····· |
| And queen wassailing: | 5 | ····· |
| And though with ale ye be whet here, | 8 | ········ |
| Yet part ye from hence, | 5 | ····· |
| As free from offence | 5 | ···˘/ |
| As when ye innocent met here. | 7 | ···/˘·· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.