274. To Meadows
Ye have been fresh and green,Ye have been fill'd with flowers,And ye the walks have beenWhere maids have spent their hours.You have beheld how theyWith wicker arks did comeTo kiss and bear awayThe richer cowslips home.
Y'ave heard them sweetly sing,And seen them in a round:Each virgin like a spring,With honeysuckles crown'd.
But now we see none hereWhose silvery feet did tread,And with dishevell'd hairAdorn'd this smoother mead.
Like unthrifts, having spentYour stock and needy grown,Y'are left here to lamentYour poor estates, alone.
Words in this poem
- smoother n.
- One who, or that which, smooths.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
274. To Meadows 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, 274. To Meadows, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/274-to-meadows.html, id L05305.
Form and metre
274. To Meadows is 20 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.2 syllables. 2 lines end 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 -A-ABCBC green · flowersA · been · hoursA · theyB · comeC · awayB · homeC
- 2 ABAB singA · roundB · springA · crown'dB
- 3 A-A- hereA · tread · hairA · mead
- 4 ABAB spentA · grownB · lamentA · aloneB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Ye have been fresh and green, | 6 | ······ |
| Ye have been fill'd with flowers, | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| And ye the walks have been | 6 | ······ |
| Where maids have spent their hours. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| You have beheld how they | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| With wicker arks did come | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| To kiss and bear away | 6 | ····˘/ |
| The richer cowslips home. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Y'ave heard them sweetly sing, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| And seen them in a round: | 6 | ······ |
| Each virgin like a spring, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| With honeysuckles crown'd. | 6 | ·/˘·˘· |
| But now we see none here | 6 | ······ |
| Whose silvery feet did tread, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And with dishevell'd hair | 6 | ······ |
| Adorn'd this smoother mead. | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| Like unthrifts, having spent | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Your stock and needy grown, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Y'are left here to lament | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Your poor estates, alone. | 6 | ··˘/˘/ |
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.