519. On Himself
Born I was to meet with age,And to walk life's pilgrimage.Much I know of time is spent,Tell I can't what's resident.Howsoever, cares, adieu!I'll have nought to say to you:But I'll spend my coming hoursDrinking wine and crown'd with flowers.
Words in this poem
- pilgrimage n.
- The journey of a pilgrim; a long journey; especially, a journey to a shrine or other sacred place. Fig., the journey of human life. [OE. pilgrimage, pelgrinage; cf. F. pèlerinage.]
- howsoever conj.
- In what manner soever; to whatever degree or extent; however. [How + so + ever.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
519. On Himself 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, 519. On Himself, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/519-on-himself.html, id L05494.
Form and metre
519. On Himself is 8 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic 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 AABBCCDD ageA · pilgrimageA · spentB · residentB · adieuC · youC · hoursD · flowersD
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Born I was to meet with age, | 7 | ······· |
| And to walk life's pilgrimage. | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Much I know of time is spent, | 7 | ······· |
| Tell I can't what's resident. | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Howsoever, cares, adieu! | 6 | ····˘/ |
| I'll have nought to say to you: | 7 | ······· |
| But I'll spend my coming hours | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Drinking wine and crown'd with flowers. | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
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.