635. Upon Love
A crystal vial Cupid brought,Which had a juice in it;Of which who drank, he said no thoughtOf love he should admit.
I, greedy of the prize, did drink,And emptied soon the glass;Which burnt me so, that I do thinkThe fire of hell it was.
Give me my earthen cups again,The crystal I contemn;Which, though enchas'd with pearls, containA deadly draught in them.
And thou, O Cupid! come not toMy threshold, since I see,For all I have, or else can do,Thou still wilt cozen me.
Words in this poem
- cupid
- The god of love, son of Venus; usually represented as a naked, winged boy with bow and arrow. [L.Cupido, fr. cupido desire, desire of love, fr. cupidus. See Cupidity.]
- drank n.
- Wild oats, or darnel grass. See Drake a plant. [Cf. 3d Drake.]
- contemn v. t.
- To view or treat with contempt, as mean and despicable; to reject with disdain; to despise; to scorn. [L. contemnere, -temptum; con- + temnere to slight, despise: cf. OF. contemner.]
- cozen v. t.
- To cheat; to defrand; to beguile; to deceive, usually by small arts, or in a pitiful way. [From cousin, hence, literally, to deceive through pretext of relationship, F. cousiner.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
635. Upon Love 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, 635. Upon Love, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/635-upon-love.html, id L05591.
Form and metre
635. Upon Love is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in common measure.
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 ABAB broughtA · itB · thoughtA · admitB
- 2 A-A- drinkA · glass · thinkA · was
- 3 ABAB againA · contemnB · containA · themB
- 4 ABAB toA · seeB · doA · meB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| A crystal vial Cupid brought, | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Which had a juice in it; | 6 | ······ |
| Of which who drank, he said no thought | 8 | ········ |
| Of love he should admit. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| I, greedy of the prize, did drink, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| And emptied soon the glass; | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Which burnt me so, that I do think | 8 | ········ |
| The fire of hell it was. | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Give me my earthen cups again, | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| The crystal I contemn; | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| Which, though enchas'd with pearls, contain | 8 | ······˘/ |
| A deadly draught in them. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And thou, O Cupid! come not to | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| My threshold, since I see, | 6 | ·/···· |
| For all I have, or else can do, | 8 | ········ |
| Thou still wilt cozen me. | 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.