341. To the Lady Mary Villars, Governess to the Princess Henrietta
When I of Villars do but hear the name,It calls to mind that mighty Buckingham,Who was your brave exalted uncle here,Binding the wheel of fortune to his sphere,Who spurned at envy, and could bring with easeAn end to all his stately purposes.For his love then, whose sacred relics showTheir resurrection and their growth in you;And for my sake, who ever did preferYou above all those sweets of Westminster;Permit my book to have a free accessTo kiss your hand, most dainty governess.
Words in this poem
- resurrection n.
- A rising again; the resumption of vigor. [F. résurrection, L. resurrectio, fr. resurgere, resurrectum, to rise again; pref. re- re- + surgere to rise. See Source.]
- dainty n.
- Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything. [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deintié delicacy, orig., dignity, honor, fr. L. dignitas, fr. dignus worthy. See Deign, and cf. Dignity.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
341. To the Lady Mary Villars, Governess to the Princess Henrietta 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, 341. To the Lady Mary Villars, Governess to the Princess Henrietta, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/341-to-the-lady-mary-villars-governess-to-the-princess-henri.html, id L05361.
Form and metre
341. To the Lady Mary Villars, Governess to the Princess Henrietta is 12 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 3 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% 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 --AABB----CC name · buckingham · hereA · sphereA · easeB · purposesB · show · you · prefer · westminster · accessC · governessC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When I of Villars do but hear the name, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| It calls to mind that mighty Buckingham, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Who was your brave exalted uncle here, | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| Binding the wheel of fortune to his sphere, | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| Who spurned at envy, and could bring with ease | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| An end to all his stately purposes. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| For his love then, whose sacred relics show | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Their resurrection and their growth in you; | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| And for my sake, who ever did prefer | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| You above all those sweets of Westminster; | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Permit my book to have a free access | 10 | /·······/· |
| To kiss your hand, most dainty governess. | 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.