168. To Jos., Lord Bishop of Exeter
Whom should I fear to write to if I canStand before you, my learn'd diocesan?And never show blood-guiltiness or fearTo see my lines excathedrated here.Since none so good are but you may condemn,Or here so bad but you may pardon them.If then, my lord, to sanctify my museOne only poem out of all you'll choose,And mark it for a rapture nobly writ,'Tis good confirm'd, for you have bishop'd it.
Words in this poem
- diocesan a.
- Of or pertaining to a diocese; as, diocesan missions. [LL. dioecesanus: cf. F. diocésain.]
- sanctify v. t.
- To make sacred or holy; to set apart to a holy or religious use; to consecrate by appropriate rites; to hallow. [F. sanctifier, L. sanctificare; sanctus holy + - ficare (in comp.) to make. See Saint, and -fy.]
- nobly adv.
- Of noble extraction; as, nobly born or descended.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
168. To Jos., Lord Bishop of Exeter 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, 168. To Jos., Lord Bishop of Exeter, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/168-to-jos-lord-bishop-of-exeter.html, id L05220.
Form and metre
168. To Jos., Lord Bishop of Exeter is 10 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 85%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 30% 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 AABBCCDDEE canA · diocesanA · fearB · hereB · condemnC · themC · museD · chooseD · writE · itE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Whom should I fear to write to if I can | 10 | ·········· |
| Stand before you, my learn'd diocesan? | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| And never show blood-guiltiness or fear | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| To see my lines excathedrated here. | 10 | ·········· |
| Since none so good are but you may condemn, | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Or here so bad but you may pardon them. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| If then, my lord, to sanctify my muse | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| One only poem out of all you'll choose, | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| And mark it for a rapture nobly writ, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| 'Tis good confirm'd, for you have bishop'd it. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
Notes from the edition 1
Word-glosses from Pollard's edition (Muses' Library, 1891; Project Gutenberg #22421).
- Blood-guiltiness: guilt betrayed by blushing; cp. 837 · Excathedrated: condemned _ex cathedra_
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.