370. Pray and Prosper
First offer incense, then thy field and meadsShall smile and smell the better by thy beads.The spangling dew, dredg'd o'er the grass, shall beTurn'd all to mell and manna there for thee.Butter of amber, cream, and wine, and oilShall run, as rivers, all throughout thy soil.Would'st thou to sincere silver turn thy mould?Pray once, twice pray, and turn thy ground to gold.
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,]
- mell v. i.
- To mix; to meddle. [F. mêler, OF. meller, mester. See Meddle.]
- mould n.
- Crumbling, soft, friable earth; esp., earth containing the remains or constituents of organic matter, and suited to the growth of plants; soil. [OE. molde, AS. molde; akin to D. mul, G. mull, mulm, OHG. molt, molta, Icel. mold, Dan. muld, Sw. mull, Goth. mulda, and E. meal flour. See Meal, and cf. Mole a]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
370. Pray and Prosper 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, 370. Pray and Prosper, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/370-pray-and-prosper.html, id L05384.
Form and metre
370. Pray and Prosper is 8 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 80%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 38% 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 AABBCCDD meadsA · beadsA · beB · theeB · oilC · soilC · mouldD · goldD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| First offer incense, then thy field and meads | 10 | ·/˘/······ |
| Shall smile and smell the better by thy beads. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The spangling dew, dredg'd o'er the grass, shall be | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Turn'd all to mell and manna there for thee. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Butter of amber, cream, and wine, and oil | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Shall run, as rivers, all throughout thy soil. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Would'st thou to sincere silver turn thy mould? | 10 | ···˘//˘··· |
| Pray once, twice pray, and turn thy ground to gold. | 10 | ·········· |
Notes from the edition 1
Word-glosses from Pollard's edition (Muses' Library, 1891; Project Gutenberg #22421).
- Beads: prayers · Mell: honey · Sincere silver: pure silver
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.