200. Beginnings and Endings
Paul, he began ill, but he ended well;Judas began well, but he foully fell:In godliness not the beginnings soMuch as the ends are to be look'd unto.
Words in this poem
- foully v.
- In a foul manner; filthily; nastily; shamefully; unfairly; dishonorably.
- godliness n.
- Careful observance of, or conformity to, the laws of God; the state or quality of being godly; piety. [From Godly.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
200. Beginnings and Endings 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, 200. Beginnings and Endings, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/200-beginnings-and-endings.html, id L06211.
Form and metre
200. Beginnings and Endings is 4 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines. 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 AA-- wellA · fellA · so · unto
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Paul, he began ill, but he ended well; | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| Judas began well, but he foully fell: | 10 | /˘˘/···/˘· |
| In godliness not the beginnings so | 10 | ·/˘˘··˘/˘· |
| Much as the ends are to be look'd unto. | 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.