428. Upon Roots. Epig
Roots had no money; yet he went o' the score,For a wrought purse; can any tell wherefore?Say, what should Roots do with a purse in print,That had not gold nor silver to put in't?
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- wherefore adv.
- For which reason; so; -- used relatively. [Where + for.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
428. Upon Roots. 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, 428. Upon Roots. Epig, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/428-upon-roots-epig.html, id L06350.
Form and metre
428. Upon Roots. Epig is 4 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in rhyming couplets.
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 scoreA · whereforeA · printB · in'tB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Roots had no money; yet he went o' the score, | 11 | ···/˘······ |
| For a wrought purse; can any tell wherefore? | 10 | ·····/˘·/˘ |
| Say, what should Roots do with a purse in print, | 10 | ·········· |
| That had not gold nor silver to put in't? | 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.