166. Upon Cupid
Love like a gipsy lately came,And did me much importuneTo see my hand, that by the sameHe might foretell my fortune.
He saw my palm, and then, said he,I tell thee by this score here,That thou within few months shalt beThe youthful Prince d'Amour here.
I smil'd, and bade him once more prove,And by some cross-line show it,That I could ne'er be prince of love,Though here the princely poet.
Words in this poem
- importune a.
- Inopportune; unseasonable. [F. importun, L. importunus; pref. im- not + a derivative from the root of portus harbor, importunus therefore orig. meaning, hard of access. See Port harbor, an]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
166. Upon Cupid 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, 166. Upon Cupid, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/166-upon-cupid.html, id L05218.
Form and metre
166. Upon Cupid is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 ABAB cameA · importuneB · sameA · fortuneB
- 2 ABAB heA · hereB · beA · hereB
- 3 ABAB proveA · itB · loveA · poetB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Love like a gipsy lately came, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| And did me much importune | 7 | ······· |
| To see my hand, that by the same | 8 | ········ |
| He might foretell my fortune. | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| He saw my palm, and then, said he, | 8 | ········ |
| I tell thee by this score here, | 7 | ······· |
| That thou within few months shalt be | 8 | ········ |
| The youthful Prince d'Amour here. | 7 | ·/˘·˘/· |
| I smil'd, and bade him once more prove, | 8 | ········ |
| And by some cross-line show it, | 7 | ······· |
| That I could ne'er be prince of love, | 8 | ········ |
| Though here the princely poet. | 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.