300. Bashfulness
Of all our parts, the eyes expressThe sweetest kind of bashfulness.
For one so rarely tun'd to fit all parts,For one to whom espous'd are all the arts,Long have I sought for, but could never seeThem all concentr'd in one man, but thee.Thus, thou that man art whom the fates conspir'dTo make but one, and that's thyself, admir'd.
Words in this poem
- bashfulness n.
- The quality of being bashful.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
300. Bashfulness 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, 300. Bashfulness, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/300-bashfulness.html, id L05329.
Form and metre
300. Bashfulness is 8 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 3 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 iambic pentameter.
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 AA expressA · bashfulnessA
- 2 AABBCC partsA · artsA · seeB · theeB · conspir'dC · admir'dC
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Of all our parts, the eyes express | 9 | ··/˘···˘/ |
| The sweetest kind of bashfulness. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| For one so rarely tun'd to fit all parts, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For one to whom espous'd are all the arts, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Long have I sought for, but could never see | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Them all concentr'd in one man, but thee. | 9 | ········· |
| Thus, thou that man art whom the fates conspir'd | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| To make but one, and that's thyself, admir'd. | 11 | ······˘/˘/˘ |
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.