534. To Electra
'Tis evening, my sweet,And dark, let us meet;Long time w'ave here been a-toying,And never, as yet,That season could getWherein t'ave had an enjoying.
For pity or shame,Then let not love's flameBe ever and ever a-spending;Since now to the portThe path is but short,And yet our way has no ending.
Time flies away fast,Our hours do waste,The while we never rememberHow soon our life, here,Grows old with the yearThat dies with the next December.
Words in this poem
- spending n.
- The act of expending; expenditure. Spending money, money set apart for extra (not necessary) personal expenses; pocket money.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
534. To Electra 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, 534. To Electra, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/534-to-electra.html, id L05506.
Form and metre
534. To Electra is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 76%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.2 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 28% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 AABCCB sweetA · meetA · toyingB · yetC · getC · enjoyingB
- 2 AABCCB shameA · flameA · spendingB · portC · shortC · endingB
- 3 --ABBA fast · waste · rememberA · hereB · yearB · decemberA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 'Tis evening, my sweet, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| And dark, let us meet; | 5 | ····· |
| Long time w'ave here been a-toying, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And never, as yet, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| That season could get | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Wherein t'ave had an enjoying. | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| For pity or shame, | 5 | ·/˘·· |
| Then let not love's flame | 5 | ····· |
| Be ever and ever a-spending; | 7 | ·/·/·/˘ |
| Since now to the port | 5 | ····· |
| The path is but short, | 5 | ····· |
| And yet our way has no ending. | 8 | ··/···/˘ |
| Time flies away fast, | 5 | ··˘/· |
| Our hours do waste, | 5 | //˘·· |
| The while we never remember | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| How soon our life, here, | 5 | ··/·· |
| Grows old with the year | 5 | ····· |
| That dies with the next December. | 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.