256. Upon the Death of His Sparrow. An Elegy
Why do not all fresh maids appearTo work love's sampler only here,Where spring-time smiles throughout the year?Are not here rosebuds, pinks, all flowersNature begets by th' sun and showers,Met in one hearse-cloth to o'erspreadThe body of the under-dead?Phil, the late dead, the late dead dear,O! may no eye distil a tearFor you once lost, who weep not here!Had Lesbia, too-too kind, but knownThis sparrow, she had scorn'd her own:And for this dead which under liesWept out her heart, as well as eyes.But, endless peace, sit here and keepMy Phil the time he has to sleep;And thousand virgins come and weepTo make these flowery carpets showFresh as their blood, and ever grow,Till passengers shall spend their doom:Not Virgil's gnat had such a tomb.
Words in this poem
- sampler n.
- One who makes up samples for inspection; one who examines samples, or by samples; as, a wool sampler. [See Exampler, Exemplar.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
256. Upon the Death of His Sparrow. An Elegy 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, 256. Upon the Death of His Sparrow. An Elegy, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/256-upon-the-death-of-his-sparrow-an-elegy.html, id L05291.
Form and metre
256. Upon the Death of His Sparrow. An Elegy is 21 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 43% 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 AAABBCCAAADDEEFFFGGHH appearA · hereA · yearA · flowersB · showersB · o'erspreadC · deadC · dearA · tearA · hereA · knownD · ownD · liesE · eyesE · keepF · sleepF · weepF · showG · growG · doomH · tombH
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Why do not all fresh maids appear | 8 | ······˘/ |
| To work love's sampler only here, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Where spring-time smiles throughout the year? | 8 | ········ |
| Are not here rosebuds, pinks, all flowers | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| Nature begets by th' sun and showers, | 9 | /˘˘/···/˘ |
| Met in one hearse-cloth to o'erspread | 8 | ········ |
| The body of the under-dead? | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Phil, the late dead, the late dead dear, | 8 | ········ |
| O! may no eye distil a tear | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| For you once lost, who weep not here! | 8 | ········ |
| Had Lesbia, too-too kind, but known | 8 | ········ |
| This sparrow, she had scorn'd her own: | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And for this dead which under lies | 8 | ········ |
| Wept out her heart, as well as eyes. | 8 | ········ |
| But, endless peace, sit here and keep | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| My Phil the time he has to sleep; | 8 | ········ |
| And thousand virgins come and weep | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| To make these flowery carpets show | 9 | ···/˘˘/˘· |
| Fresh as their blood, and ever grow, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Till passengers shall spend their doom: | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Not Virgil's gnat had such a tomb. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
Notes from the edition 1
Word-glosses from Pollard's edition (Muses' Library, 1891; Project Gutenberg #22421).
- Phil: otherwise Philip or Phip, was a pet name for a sparrow · Virgil's gnat: the _Culex_ attributed to Virgil
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