618. A Nuptial Verse to Mistress Elizabeth Lee, Now Lady Tracy
Spring with the lark, most comely bride, and meetYour eager bridegroom with auspicious feet.The morn's far spent, and the immortal sunCorals his cheek to see those rites not done.Fie, lovely maid! indeed you are too slow,When to the temple Love should run, not go.Dispatch your dressing then, and quickly wed;Then feast, and coy't a little, then to bed.This day is Love's day, and this busy nightIs yours, in which you challenged are to fightWith such an arm'd, but such an easy foe,As will, if you yield, lie down conquer'd too.The field is pitch'd, but such must be your wars,As that your kisses must outvie the stars.Fall down together vanquished both, and lieDrown'd in the blood of rubies there, not die.
Words in this poem
- bridegroom n.
- A man newly married, or just about to be married. [OE. bridegome, brudgume, AS. br (akin to OS. br, D. bruidegom, bruigom, OHG. pr, MHG. briutegome, G. bräutigam); AS. br bride + guma man, akin to Goth. guma, Ic]
- outvie v. t.
- To exceed in vying.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
618. A Nuptial Verse to Mistress Elizabeth Lee, Now Lady Tracy 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, 618. A Nuptial Verse to Mistress Elizabeth Lee, Now Lady Tracy, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/618-a-nuptial-verse-to-mistress-elizabeth-lee-now-lady-tracy.html, id L05577.
Form and metre
618. A Nuptial Verse to Mistress Elizabeth Lee, Now Lady Tracy is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 75% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 31% 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 AABBCCDDEEC---FF meetA · feetA · sunB · doneB · slowC · goC · wedD · bedD · nightE · fightE · foeC · too · wars · stars · lieF · dieF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Spring with the lark, most comely bride, and meet | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Your eager bridegroom with auspicious feet. | 10 | ·/˘/··˘/˘· |
| The morn's far spent, and the immortal sun | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Corals his cheek to see those rites not done. | 10 | /˘········ |
| Fie, lovely maid! indeed you are too slow, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| When to the temple Love should run, not go. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Dispatch your dressing then, and quickly wed; | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| Then feast, and coy't a little, then to bed. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| This day is Love's day, and this busy night | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Is yours, in which you challenged are to fight | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| With such an arm'd, but such an easy foe, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| As will, if you yield, lie down conquer'd too. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| The field is pitch'd, but such must be your wars, | 10 | ·········· |
| As that your kisses must outvie the stars. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Fall down together vanquished both, and lie | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Drown'd in the blood of rubies there, not die. | 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.