354. The Meadow-Verse; Or, Anniversary to Mistress Bridget Lowman
Come with the spring-time forth, fair maid, and beThis year again the meadow's deity.Yet ere ye enter give us leave to setUpon your head this flowery coronet;To make this neat distinction from the rest,You are the prime and princess of the feast;To which with silver feet lead you the way,While sweet-breath nymphs attend on you this day.This is your hour, and best you may command,Since you are lady of this fairy land.Full mirth wait on you, and such mirth as shallCherish the cheek but make none blush at all.
Words in this poem
- princess n.
- A female prince; a woman having sovereign power, or the rank of a prince. [F. princesse. See Prince, and cf. Princesse.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
354. The Meadow-Verse; Or, Anniversary to Mistress Bridget Lowman 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, 354. The Meadow-Verse; Or, Anniversary to Mistress Bridget Lowman, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/354-the-meadow-verse-or-anniversary-to-mistress-bridget-lowm.html, id L05374.
Form and metre
354. The Meadow-Verse; Or, Anniversary to Mistress Bridget Lowman 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 83%). 99% 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. 25% 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 --AA--BBCC-- be · deity · setA · coronetA · rest · feast · wayB · dayB · commandC · landC · shall · all
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Come with the spring-time forth, fair maid, and be | 10 | ·········· |
| This year again the meadow's deity. | 10 | ··˘/·/·/˘˘ |
| Yet ere ye enter give us leave to set | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Upon your head this flowery coronet; | 10 | ·····/˘/˘/ |
| To make this neat distinction from the rest, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| You are the prime and princess of the feast; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| To which with silver feet lead you the way, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| While sweet-breath nymphs attend on you this day. | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| This is your hour, and best you may command, | 10 | ···/····˘/ |
| Since you are lady of this fairy land. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Full mirth wait on you, and such mirth as shall | 10 | ·········· |
| Cherish the cheek but make none blush at all. | 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.