590. To His Brother-In-Law, Master John Wingfield
For being comely, consonant, and freeTo most of men, but most of all to me;For so decreeing that thy clothes' expenseKeeps still within a just circumference;Then for contriving so to load thy boardAs that the messes ne'er o'erlade the lord;Next for ordaining that thy words not swellTo any one unsober syllable:These I could praise thee for beyond another,Wert thou a Winstfield only, not a brother.
About this text
590. To His Brother-In-Law, Master John Wingfield 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, 590. To His Brother-In-Law, Master John Wingfield, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/590-to-his-brother-in-law-master-john-wingfield.html, id L05553.
Form and metre
590. To His Brother-In-Law, Master John Wingfield 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 89%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.1 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 40% 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 AABBCCDDEE freeA · meA · expenseB · circumferenceB · boardC · lordC · swellD · syllableD · anotherE · brotherE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| For being comely, consonant, and free | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘˘·· |
| To most of men, but most of all to me; | 10 | ·········· |
| For so decreeing that thy clothes' expense | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| Keeps still within a just circumference; | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Then for contriving so to load thy board | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| As that the messes ne'er o'erlade the lord; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Next for ordaining that thy words not swell | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| To any one unsober syllable: | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| These I could praise thee for beyond another, | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| Wert thou a Winstfield only, not a brother. | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
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.