483. To His Worthy Friend, M. Thos. Falconbirge
Stand with thy graces forth, brave man, and riseHigh with thine own auspicious destinies:Nor leave the search, and proof, till thou canst findThese, or those ends, to which thou wast design'd.Thy lucky genius and thy guiding starHave made thee prosperous in thy ways thus far:Nor will they leave thee till they both have shownThee to the world a prime and public one.Then, when thou see'st thine age all turn'd to gold,Remember what thy Herrick thee foretold,When at the holy threshold of thine houseHe boded good luck to thy self and spouse.Lastly, be mindful, when thou art grown great,That towers high rear'd dread most the lightning's threat:Whenas the humble cottages not fearThe cleaving bolt of Jove the thunderer.
Words in this poem
- wast
- The second person singular of the verb be, in the indicative mood, imperfect tense; -- now used only in solemn or poetical style.
- spouse v. t.
- To wed; to espouse. [See Espouse, and Spouse, n.]
- lastly adv.
- In the last place; in conclusion.
- mindful a.
- Bearing in mind; regardful; attentive; heedful; observant.
- jove n.
- The chief divinity of the ancient Romans; Jupiter. [L. Jupiter, gen. Jovis, OL. Jovis, nom. & gen. for Djovis; akin to E. Tuesday. See Tuesday, and cf. Jupiter.]
- thunderer n.
- One who thunders; -- used especially as a translation of L.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
483. To His Worthy Friend, M. Thos. Falconbirge 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, 483. To His Worthy Friend, M. Thos. Falconbirge, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/483-to-his-worthy-friend-m-thos-falconbirge.html, id L05463.
Form and metre
483. To His Worthy Friend, M. Thos. Falconbirge is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 62% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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--DDEE---- riseA · destiniesA · findB · design'dB · starC · farC · shown · one · goldD · foretoldD · houseE · spouseE · great · threat · fear · thunderer
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Stand with thy graces forth, brave man, and rise | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| High with thine own auspicious destinies: | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Nor leave the search, and proof, till thou canst find | 10 | ·········· |
| These, or those ends, to which thou wast design'd. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Thy lucky genius and thy guiding star | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Have made thee prosperous in thy ways thus far: | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Nor will they leave thee till they both have shown | 10 | ·········· |
| Thee to the world a prime and public one. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Then, when thou see'st thine age all turn'd to gold, | 10 | ·········· |
| Remember what thy Herrick thee foretold, | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| When at the holy threshold of thine house | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| He boded good luck to thy self and spouse. | 10 | ·········· |
| Lastly, be mindful, when thou art grown great, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| That towers high rear'd dread most the lightning's threat: | 10 | ·/·····/˘· |
| Whenas the humble cottages not fear | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘˘·· |
| The cleaving bolt of Jove the thunderer. | 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.