169. Upon a Black Twist Rounding the Arm of the Countess of Carlisle
I saw about her spotless wrist,Of blackest silk, a curious twist;Which, circumvolving gently, thereEnthrall'd her arm as prisoner.Dark was the jail, but as if lightHad met t'engender with the night;Or so as darkness made a stayTo show at once both night and day.One fancy more! but if there beSuch freedom in captivity,I beg of Love that ever IMay in like chains of darkness lie.
Words in this poem
- curious a.
- Difficult to please or satisfy; solicitous to be correct; careful; scrupulous; nice; exact. [OF. curios, curius, F. curieux, L. curiosus careful, inquisitive, fr. cura care. See Cure.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
169. Upon a Black Twist Rounding the Arm of the Countess of Carlisle 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, 169. Upon a Black Twist Rounding the Arm of the Countess of Carlisle, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/169-upon-a-black-twist-rounding-the-arm-of-the-countess-of-c.html, id L05221.
Form and metre
169. Upon a Black Twist Rounding the Arm of the Countess of Carlisle is 12 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 42% 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 AA--BBCCD-DD wristA · twistA · there · prisoner · lightB · nightB · stayC · dayC · beD · captivity · iD · lieD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I saw about her spotless wrist, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Of blackest silk, a curious twist; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Which, circumvolving gently, there | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Enthrall'd her arm as prisoner. | 8 | ˘/···/˘˘ |
| Dark was the jail, but as if light | 8 | ········ |
| Had met t'engender with the night; | 8 | ········ |
| Or so as darkness made a stay | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To show at once both night and day. | 8 | ········ |
| One fancy more! but if there be | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Such freedom in captivity, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| I beg of Love that ever I | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| May in like chains of darkness lie. | 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.