55. To Anthea
Now is the time, when all the lights wax dim;And thou, Anthea, must withdraw from himWho was thy servant. Dearest, bury meUnder that Holy-oak or Gospel-tree,Where, though thou see'st not, thou may'st think uponMe, when thou yearly go'st procession;Or, for mine honour, lay me in that tombIn which thy sacred relics shall have room.For my embalming, sweetest, there will beNo spices wanting when I'm laid by thee.
Words in this poem
- 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.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
55. To Anthea 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, 55. To Anthea, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/55-to-anthea.html, id L05117.
Form and metre
55. To Anthea is 10 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% 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 AABBCCDDBB dimA · himA · meB · treeB · uponC · processionC · tombD · roomD · beB · theeB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Now is the time, when all the lights wax dim; | 10 | ·········· |
| And thou, Anthea, must withdraw from him | 10 | ··/˘˘·˘/·· |
| Who was thy servant. Dearest, bury me | 10 | ···/˘/˘/˘· |
| Under that Holy-oak or Gospel-tree, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Where, though thou see'st not, thou may'st think upon | 10 | ·········· |
| Me, when thou yearly go'st procession; | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| Or, for mine honour, lay me in that tomb | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| In which thy sacred relics shall have room. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| For my embalming, sweetest, there will be | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| No spices wanting when I'm laid by thee. | 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.