333. To Lar
No more shall I, since I am driven hence,Devote to thee my grains of frankincense;No more shall I from mantle-trees hang down,To honour thee, my little parsley crown;No more shall I (I fear me) to thee bringMy chives of garlic for an offering;No more shall I from henceforth hear a choirOf merry crickets by my country fire.Go where I will, thou lucky Lar stay here,Warm by a glitt'ring chimney all the year.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- henceforth adv.
- From this time forward; henceforward.
- chimney n.
- A fireplace or hearth. Sir W. Raleigh.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
333. To Lar 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, 333. To Lar, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/333-to-lar.html, id L05354.
Form and metre
333. To Lar 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 89%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% 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 henceA · frankincenseA · downB · crownB · bringC · offeringC · choirD · fireD · hereE · yearE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| No more shall I, since I am driven hence, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Devote to thee my grains of frankincense; | 10 | ˘/·····/˘· |
| No more shall I from mantle-trees hang down, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To honour thee, my little parsley crown; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| No more shall I (I fear me) to thee bring | 10 | ·········· |
| My chives of garlic for an offering; | 10 | ···/˘··/˘˘ |
| No more shall I from henceforth hear a choir | 11 | ·····//··/˘ |
| Of merry crickets by my country fire. | 11 | ·/˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Go where I will, thou lucky Lar stay here, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Warm by a glitt'ring chimney all the year. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
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.