201. To Live Merrily and to Trust to Good Verses
Now is the time for mirth,Nor cheek or tongue be dumb;For, with the flowery earth,The golden pomp is come.
The golden pomp is come;For now each tree does wear.Made of her pap and gum,Rich beads of amber here.
Now reigns the rose, and nowTh' Arabian dew besmearsMy uncontrolled browAnd my retorted hairs.
Homer, this health to thee,In sack of such a kindThat it would make thee seeThough thou wert ne'er so blind.
Next, Virgil I'll call forthTo pledge this second healthIn wine, whose each cup's worthAn Indian commonwealth.
A goblet next I'll drinkTo Ovid, and suppose,Made he the pledge, he'd thinkThe world had all one nose.
Then this immensive cupOf aromatic wine,Catullus, I quaff upTo that terse muse of thine.
Wild I am now with heat:O Bacchus, cool thy rays!Or, frantic, I shall eatThy thyrse and bite the bays.
Round, round the roof does run,And, being ravish'd thus,Come, I will drink a tunTo my Propertius.
Now, to Tibullus, next,This flood I drink to thee:But stay, I see a textThat this presents to me.
Behold, Tibullus liesHere burnt, whose small returnOf ashes scarce sufficeTo fill a little urn.
Trust to good verses then;They only will aspireWhen pyramids, as men,Are lost i' th' funeral fire.
And when all bodies meetIn Lethe to be drown'd,Then only numbers sweetWith endless life are crown'd.
Words in this poem
- commonwealth n.
- A state; a body politic consisting of a certain number of men, united, by compact or tacit agreement, under one form of government and system of laws. [Common + wealth well-being.]
- quaff v. t.
- To drink with relish; to drink copiously of; to swallow in large draughts. [For quach, fr. Gael. & Ir. cuach a drinking cup; cf. L. caucus a drinking vessel. Cf. Quaigh.]
- terse a.
- Appearing as if rubbed or wiped off; rubbed; smooth; polished. [L. tersus, p.p. of tergere to rub or wipe off.]
- 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,]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- suffice v. i.
- To be enough, or sufficient; to meet the need (of anything); to be equal to the end proposed; to be adequate. [OE. suffisen, OF. soufire, F. suffire (cf. suffisant, p.pr.), L. sufficere to put under, to substitute, to avail for, to suffice; sub under + facere to make. Se]
- aspire v. t.
- To aspire to; to long for; to try to reach; to mount to.
- lethe n.
- A river of Hades whose waters when drunk caused forgetfulness of the past.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
201. To Live Merrily and to Trust to Good Verses 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, 201. To Live Merrily and to Trust to Good Verses, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/201-to-live-merrily-and-to-trust-to-good-verses.html, id L05246.
Form and metre
201. To Live Merrily and to Trust to Good Verses is 52 lines in 13 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 10 of its 13 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.1 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 40% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 ABAB mirthA · dumbB · earthA · comeB
- 2 ABAB comeA · wearB · gumA · hereB
- 3 ABAB nowA · besmearsB · browA · hairsB
- 4 ABAB theeA · kindB · seeA · blindB
- 5 -A-A forth · healthA · worth · commonwealthA
- 6 ABAB drinkA · supposeB · thinkA · noseB
- 7 ABAB cupA · wineB · upA · thineB
- 8 ABAB heatA · raysB · eatA · baysB
- 10 ABAB nextA · theeB · textA · meB
- 11 -A-A lies · returnA · suffice · urnA
- 12 ABAB thenA · aspireB · menA · fireB
- 13 ABAB meetA · drown'dB · sweetA · crown'dB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Now is the time for mirth, | 6 | ······ |
| Nor cheek or tongue be dumb; | 6 | ······ |
| For, with the flowery earth, | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| The golden pomp is come. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The golden pomp is come; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| For now each tree does wear. | 6 | ······ |
| Made of her pap and gum, | 6 | ······ |
| Rich beads of amber here. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Now reigns the rose, and now | 6 | ······ |
| Th' Arabian dew besmears | 7 | ˘/˘˘··· |
| My uncontrolled brow | 5 | ··˘/· |
| And my retorted hairs. | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Homer, this health to thee, | 6 | /˘···· |
| In sack of such a kind | 6 | ······ |
| That it would make thee see | 6 | ······ |
| Though thou wert ne'er so blind. | 6 | ······ |
| Next, Virgil I'll call forth | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| To pledge this second health | 6 | ···/˘· |
| In wine, whose each cup's worth | 6 | ······ |
| An Indian commonwealth. | 7 | ·/˘˘/˘· |
| A goblet next I'll drink | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| To Ovid, and suppose, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Made he the pledge, he'd think | 6 | ······ |
| The world had all one nose. | 6 | ······ |
| Then this immensive cup | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Of aromatic wine, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Catullus, I quaff up | 6 | ······ |
| To that terse muse of thine. | 6 | ······ |
| Wild I am now with heat: | 6 | ······ |
| O Bacchus, cool thy rays! | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Or, frantic, I shall eat | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Thy thyrse and bite the bays. | 6 | ······ |
| Round, round the roof does run, | 6 | ······ |
| And, being ravish'd thus, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Come, I will drink a tun | 6 | ······ |
| To my Propertius. | 5 | ····· |
| Now, to Tibullus, next, | 6 | ······ |
| This flood I drink to thee: | 6 | ······ |
| But stay, I see a text | 6 | ······ |
| That this presents to me. | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| Behold, Tibullus lies | 6 | ˘/···· |
| Here burnt, whose small return | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Of ashes scarce suffice | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| To fill a little urn. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Trust to good verses then; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| They only will aspire | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| When pyramids, as men, | 6 | ·/˘˘·· |
| Are lost i' th' funeral fire. | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| And when all bodies meet | 6 | ···/˘· |
| In Lethe to be drown'd, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Then only numbers sweet | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| With endless life are crown'd. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
Notes from the edition 1
Word-glosses from Pollard's edition (Muses' Library, 1891; Project Gutenberg #22421).
- Stanza 13 Retorted: bound back, "retorto crine," _Martial_ · Immensive: measureless
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