232. To God
Come to me, God; but do not comeTo me as to the General DoomIn power; or come Thou in that stateWhen Thou Thy laws did'st promulgate,Whenas the mountain quaked for dread,And sullen clouds bound up his head.No; lay Thy stately terrors byTo talk with me familiarly;For if Thy thunder-claps I hear,I shall less swoon than die for fear.Speak Thou of love and I'll replyBy way of Epithalamy,Or sing of mercy and I'll suitTo it my viol and my lute;Thus let Thy lips but love distil,Then come, my God, and hap what will.
Words in this poem
- promulgate v. t.
- To make known by open declaration, as laws, decrees, or tidings; to publish; as, to promulgate the secrets of a council. [L. promulgatus, p. p. of promulgare to promulgate; of unknown origin. Cf. Promulge.]
- sullen a.
- Lonely; solitary; desolate. Wyclif (Job iii. 14). [OE. solein, solain, lonely, sullen; through Old French fr. (assumed) LL. solanus solitary, fr. L. solus alone. See Sole, a.]
- claps v. t.
- Variant of Clasp
- 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,]
- epithalamy n.
- Epithalamium. Donne.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
232. To God 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, 232. To God, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/232-to-god.html, id L06243.
Form and metre
232. To God is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 62% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% 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 --AABBC-DDC-EEFF come · doom · stateA · promulgateA · dreadB · headB · byC · familiarly · hearD · fearD · replyC · epithalamy · suitE · luteE · distilF · willF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Come to me, God; but do not come | 8 | ········ |
| To me as to the General Doom | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In power; or come Thou in that state | 8 | ·/······ |
| When Thou Thy laws did'st promulgate, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Whenas the mountain quaked for dread, | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| And sullen clouds bound up his head. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| No; lay Thy stately terrors by | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| To talk with me familiarly; | 8 | ····/˘˘˘ |
| For if Thy thunder-claps I hear, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I shall less swoon than die for fear. | 8 | ········ |
| Speak Thou of love and I'll reply | 8 | ······˘/ |
| By way of Epithalamy, | 8 | ········ |
| Or sing of mercy and I'll suit | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| To it my viol and my lute; | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Thus let Thy lips but love distil, | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Then come, my God, and hap what will. | 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.