58. Eternity
O years! and age! farewell:Behold, I goWhere I do knowInfinity to dwell.
And these mine eyes shall seeAll times, how theyAre lost i' th' seaOf vast eternity.
Where never moon shall swayThe stars; but sheAnd night shall beDrown'd in one endless day.
Words in this poem
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
- 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
58. Eternity 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, 58. Eternity, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/58-eternity.html, id L06069.
Form and metre
58. Eternity is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABBA, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 96% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 5.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 67% 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 ABBA farewellA · goB · knowB · dwellA
- 2 A-A- seeA · they · seaA · eternity
- 3 ABBA swayA · sheB · beB · dayA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| O years! and age! farewell: | 6 | ·····/ |
| Behold, I go | 4 | ˘/·· |
| Where I do know | 4 | ···· |
| Infinity to dwell. | 6 | ˘/˘˘·· |
| And these mine eyes shall see | 6 | ······ |
| All times, how they | 4 | ···· |
| Are lost i' th' sea | 4 | ···· |
| Of vast eternity. | 6 | ··˘/˘˘ |
| Where never moon shall sway | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The stars; but she | 4 | ···· |
| And night shall be | 4 | ···· |
| Drown'd in one endless day. | 6 | ···/˘· |
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.