147. Dissuasions from Idleness
Cynthius, pluck ye by the ear,That ye may good doctrine hear;Play not with the maiden-hair,For each ringlet there's a snare.Cheek, and eye, and lip, and chin--These are traps to take fools in.Arms, and hands, and all parts else,Are but toils, or manacles,Set on purpose to enthralMen, but slothfuls most of all.Live employed, and so live freeFrom these fetters; like to me,Who have found, and still can prove,The lazy man the most doth love.
Words in this poem
- ringlet n.
- A small ring; a small circle; specifically, a fairy ring. [Ring + -let.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
147. Dissuasions from Idleness 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, 147. Dissuasions from Idleness, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/147-dissuasions-from-idleness.html, id L05201.
Form and metre
147. Dissuasions from Idleness is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 86% of the lines. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 14% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
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 AABBCC--DDEEFF earA · hearA · hairB · snareB · chinC · inC · else · manacles · enthralD · allD · freeE · meE · proveF · loveF
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Cynthius, pluck ye by the ear, | 7 | ······· |
| That ye may good doctrine hear; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Play not with the maiden-hair, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| For each ringlet there's a snare. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Cheek, and eye, and lip, and chin-- | 7 | ······· |
| These are traps to take fools in. | 7 | ······· |
| Arms, and hands, and all parts else, | 7 | ······· |
| Are but toils, or manacles, | 6 | ······ |
| Set on purpose to enthral | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Men, but slothfuls most of all. | 7 | ······· |
| Live employed, and so live free | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| From these fetters; like to me, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Who have found, and still can prove, | 7 | ······· |
| The lazy man the most doth love. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
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.