497. Upon a Fly
A golden fly one show'd to me,Clos'd in a box of ivory,Where both seem'd proud: the fly to haveHis burial in an ivory grave;The ivory took state to holdA corpse as bright as burnish'd gold.One fate had both, both equal grace;The buried, and the burying-place.Not Virgil's gnat, to whom the springAll flowers sent to's burying;Not Martial's bee, which in a beadOf amber quick was buried;Nor that fine worm that does interHerself i' th' silken sepulchre;Nor my rare Phil, that lately wasWith lilies tomb'd up in a glass;More honour had than this same fly,Dead, and closed up in ivory.
Words in this poem
- burial n.
- A grave; a tomb; a place of sepulture. [OE. buriel, buriels, grave, tomb, AS. byrgels, fr. byrgan to bury, and akin to OS. burgisli sepulcher.]
- corpse n.
- A human body in general, whether living or dead; -- sometimes contemptuosly. [OF. cors (sometimes written corps), F. corps, L. corpus; akin to AS. hrif womb. See Midriff, and cf. Corse, Corselet, Corps, Cuerpo.]
- sepulchre n.
- The place in which the dead body of a human being is interred, or a place set apart for that purpose; a grave; a tomb. [OE. sepulcre, OF. sepulcre, F. sépulcre, fr. L. sepulcrum, sepulchrum, fr. sepelire to bury.]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
497. Upon a Fly 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, 497. Upon a Fly, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/497-upon-a-fly.html, id L05476.
Form and metre
497. Upon a Fly is 18 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 56% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.1 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic tetrameter.
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 -ABBCCDDEEFF-----A me · ivoryA · haveB · graveB · holdC · goldC · graceD · placeD · springE · buryingE · beadF · buriedF · inter · sepulchre · was · glass · fly · ivoryA
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A golden fly one show'd to me, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Clos'd in a box of ivory, | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Where both seem'd proud: the fly to have | 8 | ········ |
| His burial in an ivory grave; | 10 | ·/˘˘··/˘˘· |
| The ivory took state to hold | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| A corpse as bright as burnish'd gold. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| One fate had both, both equal grace; | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| The buried, and the burying-place. | 9 | ·/˘··/˘˘· |
| Not Virgil's gnat, to whom the spring | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| All flowers sent to's burying; | 8 | ·/˘··/˘˘ |
| Not Martial's bee, which in a bead | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Of amber quick was buried; | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Nor that fine worm that does inter | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Herself i' th' silken sepulchre; | 7 | ˘/·/˘·· |
| Nor my rare Phil, that lately was | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With lilies tomb'd up in a glass; | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| More honour had than this same fly, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Dead, and closed up in ivory. | 9 | ···˘··/˘˘ |
Notes from the edition 1
Word-glosses from Pollard's edition (Muses' Library, 1891; Project Gutenberg #22421).
- Virgil's gnat: see 256 · Martial's bee: see Note
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