208. To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time
Gather ye rosebuds while ye may,Old time is still a-flying:And this same flower that smiles to-dayTo-morrow will be dying.
The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,The higher he's a-getting,The sooner will his race be run,And nearer he's to setting.
That age is best which is the first,When youth and blood are warmer;But being spent, the worse, and worstTimes still succeed the former.
Then be not coy, but use your time,And while ye may go marry:For having lost but once your primeYou may for ever tarry.
Words in this poem
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
208. To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time 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, 208. To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/208-to-the-virgins-to-make-much-of-time.html, id L05252.
Form and metre
208. To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.7 syllables. 8 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 ABAB mayA · flyingB · dayA · dyingB
- 2 ABAB sunA · gettingB · runA · settingB
- 3 ABAB firstA · warmerB · worstA · formerB
- 4 ABAB timeA · marryB · primeA · tarryB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| Old time is still a-flying: | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And this same flower that smiles to-day | 9 | ···/˘···· |
| To-morrow will be dying. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun, | 10 | ·/˘˘··/˘·· |
| The higher he's a-getting, | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| The sooner will his race be run, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And nearer he's to setting. | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| That age is best which is the first, | 8 | ········ |
| When youth and blood are warmer; | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| But being spent, the worse, and worst | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Times still succeed the former. | 7 | ··˘/·/˘ |
| Then be not coy, but use your time, | 8 | ········ |
| And while ye may go marry: | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| For having lost but once your prime | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| You may for ever tarry. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
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.