331. To His Honoured Kinsman, Sir William Soame. Epig
I can but name thee, and methinks I callAll that have been, or are canonicalFor love and bounty to come near, and seeTheir many virtues volum'd up in thee;In thee, brave man! whose incorrupted fameCasts forth a light like to a virgin flame;And as it shines it throws a scent about,As when a rainbow in perfumes goes out.So vanish hence, but leave a name as sweetAs benjamin and storax when they meet.
Words in this poem
- methinks v.
- It seems to me; I think. See Me. [AS. þyncan to seem, me þynceedh, me þuhte, OE. me thinketh, me thoughte; akin to G. dünken to seem, denken to think, and E. think. See Me, and Think.]
- bounty n.
- Goodness, kindness; virtue; worth. [OE. bounte goodness, kindness, F. bonté, fr. L. bonitas, fr. bonus good, for older duonus; cf. Skr. duvas honor, respect.]
- benjamin n.
- A kind of upper coat for men.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
331. To His Honoured Kinsman, Sir William Soame. Epig 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, 331. To His Honoured Kinsman, Sir William Soame. Epig, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/331-to-his-honoured-kinsman-sir-william-soame-epig.html, id L05352.
Form and metre
331. To His Honoured Kinsman, Sir William Soame. Epig is 10 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AABBCCDDEE callA · canonicalA · seeB · theeB · fameC · flameC · aboutD · outD · sweetE · meetE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I can but name thee, and methinks I call | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| All that have been, or are canonical | 10 | ······˘/˘˘ |
| For love and bounty to come near, and see | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Their many virtues volum'd up in thee; | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| In thee, brave man! whose incorrupted fame | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘· |
| Casts forth a light like to a virgin flame; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| And as it shines it throws a scent about, | 10 | ·········· |
| As when a rainbow in perfumes goes out. | 10 | ···/··˘/·· |
| So vanish hence, but leave a name as sweet | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| As benjamin and storax when they meet. | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
Notes from the edition 1
Word-glosses from Pollard's edition (Muses' Library, 1891; Project Gutenberg #22421).
- Benjamin: gum benzoin
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.