164. To a Gentlewoman Objecting to Him His Gray Hairs
Am I despised because you say,And I dare swear, that I am gray?Know, lady, you have but your day:And time will come when you shall wearSuch frost and snow upon your hair;And when (though long, it comes to pass)You question with your looking-glass;And in that sincere crystal seek,But find no rose-bud in your cheek:Nor any bed to give the showWhere such a rare carnation grew.Ah! then too late, close in your chamber keeping,It will be toldThat you are old,By those true tears y'are weeping.
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,]
- carnation n.
- The natural color of flesh; rosy pink. [F. carnation the flesh tints in a painting, It carnagione, fr. L. carnatio fleshiness, fr. caro, carnis, flesh. See Carnal.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
164. To a Gentlewoman Objecting to Him His Gray Hairs 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, 164. To a Gentlewoman Objecting to Him His Gray Hairs, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/164-to-a-gentlewoman-objecting-to-him-his-gray-hairs.html, id L05216.
Form and metre
164. To a Gentlewoman Objecting to Him His Gray Hairs is 15 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 53% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic 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 AAABBCCDD--EFFE sayA · grayA · dayA · wearB · hairB · passC · glassC · seekD · cheekD · show · grew · keepingE · toldF · oldF · weepingE
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Am I despised because you say, | 9 | ··˘/˘···· |
| And I dare swear, that I am gray? | 8 | ········ |
| Know, lady, you have but your day: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And time will come when you shall wear | 8 | ········ |
| Such frost and snow upon your hair; | 8 | ········ |
| And when (though long, it comes to pass) | 8 | ········ |
| You question with your looking-glass; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And in that sincere crystal seek, | 8 | ···˘//˘· |
| But find no rose-bud in your cheek: | 8 | ········ |
| Nor any bed to give the show | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Where such a rare carnation grew. | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Ah! then too late, close in your chamber keeping, | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| It will be told | 4 | ···· |
| That you are old, | 4 | ···· |
| By those true tears y'are weeping. | 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.