192. Upon Woman and Mary
So long, it seem'd, as Mary's faith was small,Christ did her woman, not her Mary call;But no more woman, being strong in faith,But Mary call'd then, as St. Ambrose saith.
Words in this poem
- ambrose n.
- A sweet-scented herb; ambrosia. See Ambrosia, 3. Turner.
- saith
- 3d pers. sing. pres. of Say.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
192. Upon Woman and Mary 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, 192. Upon Woman and Mary, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/192-upon-woman-and-mary.html, id L06203.
Form and metre
192. Upon Woman and Mary is 4 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The lines average 10.0 syllables.
See other poems in rhyming couplets.
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 AABB smallA · callA · faithB · saithB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| So long, it seem'd, as Mary's faith was small, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Christ did her woman, not her Mary call; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| But no more woman, being strong in faith, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| But Mary call'd then, as St. Ambrose saith. | 10 | ·/˘····/·· |
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.