187. The Olive Branch
Sadly I walk'd within the field,To see what comfort it would yield;And as I went my private wayAn olive branch before me lay,And seeing it I made a stay,And took it up and view'd it; thenKissing the omen, said Amen;Be, be it so, and let this beA divination unto me;That in short time my woes shall ceaseAnd Love shall crown my end with peace.
Words in this poem
- sadly adv.
- Wearily; heavily; firmly.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- amen interj.
- An expression used at the end of prayers, and meaning, So be it. At the end of a creed, it is a solemn asseveration of belief. [L. amen, Gr. am certainly, truly.]
- 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
187. The Olive Branch 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, 187. The Olive Branch, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/187-the-olive-branch.html, id L05235.
Form and metre
187. The Olive Branch is 11 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 73% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 36% 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 AABBBCCDDEE fieldA · yieldA · wayB · layB · stayB · thenC · amenC · beD · meD · ceaseE · peaceE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Sadly I walk'd within the field, | 8 | /˘······ |
| To see what comfort it would yield; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| And as I went my private way | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| An olive branch before me lay, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And seeing it I made a stay, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And took it up and view'd it; then | 8 | ········ |
| Kissing the omen, said Amen; | 8 | /˘·/˘·˘/ |
| Be, be it so, and let this be | 8 | ········ |
| A divination unto me; | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| That in short time my woes shall cease | 8 | ········ |
| And Love shall crown my end with peace. | 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.