569. A Hymn to the Graces
When I love (as some have told,Love I shall when I am old),O ye Graces! make me fitFor the welcoming of it.Clean my rooms, as temples be,T' entertain that deity.Give me words wherewith to woo,Suppling and successful too;Winning postures, and, withal,Manners each way musical:Sweetness to allay my sourAnd unsmooth behaviour.For I know you have the skillVines to prune, though not to kill,And of any wood ye see,You can make a Mercury.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- wherewith adv.
- With which; -- used relatively.
- withal adv.
- With this; with that. [With + all.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
569. A Hymn to the Graces 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, 569. A Hymn to the Graces, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/569-a-hymn-to-the-graces.html, id L05538.
Form and metre
569. A Hymn to the Graces is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 91% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 5 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 19% 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 AABBC-DD-E--EEC- toldA · oldA · fitB · itB · beC · deity · wooD · tooD · withal · musicalE · sour · behaviour · skillE · killE · seeC · mercury
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When I love (as some have told, | 7 | ······· |
| Love I shall when I am old), | 7 | ······· |
| O ye Graces! make me fit | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| For the welcoming of it. | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| Clean my rooms, as temples be, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| T' entertain that deity. | 8 | ··˘/·/˘˘ |
| Give me words wherewith to woo, | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Suppling and successful too; | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| Winning postures, and, withal, | 7 | /˘/˘·˘/ |
| Manners each way musical: | 7 | /˘··/˘˘ |
| Sweetness to allay my sour | 8 | /˘·˘/·/˘ |
| And unsmooth behaviour. | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| For I know you have the skill | 7 | ······· |
| Vines to prune, though not to kill, | 7 | ······· |
| And of any wood ye see, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| You can make a Mercury. | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
Notes from the edition 1
Word-glosses from Pollard's edition (Muses' Library, 1891; Project Gutenberg #22421).
- Suppling: softening · Mercury: god of eloquence and inventor of the lyre
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.