458. Upon Love
Love, I have brokeThy yoke,The neck is free;But when I'm nextLove-vexed,Then shackle me.
'Tis better yetTo fretThe feet or hands,Than to enthralOr gallThe neck with bands.
Words in this poem
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
458. Upon Love 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, 458. Upon Love, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/458-upon-love.html, id L05443.
Form and metre
458. Upon Love is 12 lines in 2 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABCCB. The metre is iambic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 3.3 syllables. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic dimeter.
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 AABCCB brokeA · yokeA · freeB · nextC · vexedC · meB
- 2 AABCCB yetA · fretA · handsB · enthralC · gallC · bandsB
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Love, I have broke | 4 | ···· |
| Thy yoke, | 2 | ·· |
| The neck is free; | 4 | ···· |
| But when I'm next | 4 | ···· |
| Love-vexed, | 2 | ·· |
| Then shackle me. | 4 | ·/˘· |
| 'Tis better yet | 4 | ·/˘· |
| To fret | 2 | ·· |
| The feet or hands, | 4 | ···· |
| Than to enthral | 4 | ··˘/ |
| Or gall | 2 | ·· |
| The neck with bands. | 4 | ···· |
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.