161. To the King, to Cure the Evil
To find that tree of life whose fruits did feedAnd leaves did heal all sick of human seed:To find Bethesda and an angel thereStirring the waters, I am come; and here,At last, I find (after my much to do)The tree, Bethesda and the angel too:And all in your blest hand, which has the powersOf all those suppling-healing herbs and flowers.To that soft charm, that spell, that magic bough,That high enchantment, I betake me now,And to that hand (the branch of heaven's fair tree),I kneel for help; O! lay that hand on me,Adored Cæsar! and my faith is suchI shall be heal'd if that my king but touch.The evil is not yours: my sorrow sings,"Mine is the evil, but the cure the king's".
Words in this poem
- betake v. t.
- To take or seize. [Pref. be- + take.]
- kneel v. i.
- To bend the knee; to fall or rest on the knees; -- sometimes with down. [OE. knelen, cneolien; akin to D. knielen, Dan. knæle. See Knee.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
161. To the King, to Cure the Evil 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, 161. To the King, to Cure the Evil, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/161-to-the-king-to-cure-the-evil.html, id L05214.
Form and metre
161. To the King, to Cure the Evil is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHH feedA · seedA · thereB · hereB · doC · tooC · powersD · flowersD · boughE · nowE · treeF · meF · suchG · touchG · singsH · king'sH
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| To find that tree of life whose fruits did feed | 10 | ·········· |
| And leaves did heal all sick of human seed: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To find Bethesda and an angel there | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| Stirring the waters, I am come; and here, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| At last, I find (after my much to do) | 10 | ·········· |
| The tree, Bethesda and the angel too: | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| And all in your blest hand, which has the powers | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Of all those suppling-healing herbs and flowers. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··/ |
| To that soft charm, that spell, that magic bough, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| That high enchantment, I betake me now, | 10 | ··˘/˘·˘/·· |
| And to that hand (the branch of heaven's fair tree), | 11 | ·······/˘·· |
| I kneel for help; O! lay that hand on me, | 10 | ·········· |
| Adored Cæsar! and my faith is such | 9 | ˘/˘······ |
| I shall be heal'd if that my king but touch. | 10 | ·········· |
| The evil is not yours: my sorrow sings, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| "Mine is the evil, but the cure the king's". | 10 | ···/˘····· |
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.