441. To Daisies, Not to Shut So Soon
Shut not so soon; the dull-ey'd nightHas not as yet begunTo make a seizure on the light,Or to seal up the sun.
No marigolds yet closed are,No shadows great appear;Nor doth the early shepherd's starShine like a spangle here.
Stay but till my Julia closeHer life-begetting eye,And let the whole world then disposeItself to live or die.
Words in this poem
- spangle n.
- A small plate or boss of shining metal; something brilliant used as an ornament, especially when stitched on the dress. [OE. spangel, dim. of AS. spange. See Spang a spangle.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
441. To Daisies, Not to Shut So Soon 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, 441. To Daisies, Not to Shut So Soon, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/441-to-daisies-not-to-shut-so-soon.html, id L05428.
Form and metre
441. To Daisies, Not to Shut So Soon is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.8 syllables. 42% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 ABAB nightA · begunB · lightA · sunB
- 2 ABAB areA · appearB · starA · hereB
- 3 ABAB closeA · eyeB · disposeA · dieB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Shut not so soon; the dull-ey'd night | 8 | ········ |
| Has not as yet begun | 6 | ····˘/ |
| To make a seizure on the light, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Or to seal up the sun. | 6 | ······ |
| No marigolds yet closed are, | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| No shadows great appear; | 6 | ·/··˘/ |
| Nor doth the early shepherd's star | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Shine like a spangle here. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Stay but till my Julia close | 7 | ······· |
| Her life-begetting eye, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| And let the whole world then dispose | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Itself to live or die. | 6 | ˘/···· |
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.