560. The Watch
Man is a watch, wound up at first, but neverWound up again: once down, he's down for ever.The watch once down, all motions then do cease;And man's pulse stop'd, all passions sleep in peace.
About this text
560. The Watch 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, 560. The Watch, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/560-the-watch.html, id L05528.
Form and metre
560. The Watch is 4 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The lines average 10.5 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in rhyming couplets.
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 AABB neverA · everA · ceaseB · peaceB
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Man is a watch, wound up at first, but never | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Wound up again: once down, he's down for ever. | 11 | ··˘/·····/˘ |
| The watch once down, all motions then do cease; | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And man's pulse stop'd, all passions sleep in peace. | 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.