446. To Oenone
What conscience, say, is it in thee,When I a heart had one,To take away that heart from me,And to retain thy own?
For shame or pity now inclineTo play a loving part;Either to send me kindly thine,Or give me back my heart.
Covet not both; but if thou dostResolve to part with neither,Why! yet to show that thou art just,Take me and mine together.
Words in this poem
- conscience n.
- Knowledge of one's own thoughts or actions; consciousness. [F. conscience, fr. L. conscientia, fr. consciens, p.pr. of conscire to know, to be conscious; con- + scire to know. See Science.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
446. To Oenone 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, 446. To Oenone, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/446-to-oenone.html, id L05433.
Form and metre
446. To Oenone is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 93%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% 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 A-A- theeA · one · meA · own
- 2 ABAB inclineA · partB · thineA · heartB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| What conscience, say, is it in thee, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| When I a heart had one, | 6 | ······ |
| To take away that heart from me, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And to retain thy own? | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| For shame or pity now incline | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| To play a loving part; | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Either to send me kindly thine, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Or give me back my heart. | 6 | ······ |
| Covet not both; but if thou dost | 8 | /˘······ |
| Resolve to part with neither, | 7 | ˘/···/˘ |
| Why! yet to show that thou art just, | 8 | ········ |
| Take me and mine together. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
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.