460. The Plunder
I am of all bereft,Save but some few beans left,Whereof, at last, to makeFor me and mine a cake,Which eaten, they and IWill say our grace, and die.
Words in this poem
- whereof adv.
- Of which; of whom; formerly, also, with which; -- used relatively.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
460. The Plunder 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, 460. The Plunder, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/460-the-plunder.html, id L05445.
Form and metre
460. The Plunder is 6 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.2 syllables.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 AABBCC bereftA · leftA · makeB · cakeB · iC · dieC
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I am of all bereft, | 6 | ····˘/ |
| Save but some few beans left, | 6 | ······ |
| Whereof, at last, to make | 6 | ······ |
| For me and mine a cake, | 6 | ······ |
| Which eaten, they and I | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Will say our grace, and die. | 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.