68. Again
When I thy singing next shall hear,I'll wish I might turn all to earTo drink in notes and numbers suchAs blessed souls can't hear too much;Then melted down, there let me lieEntranc'd and lost confusedly,And, by thy music stricken mute,Die and be turn'd into a lute.
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,]
- stricken p. p.
- Struck; smitten; wounded; as, the stricken deer.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
68. Again 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, 68. Again, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/68-again.html, id L05129.
Form and metre
68. Again is 8 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 75% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.9 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic 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 AABB--CC hearA · earA · suchB · muchB · lie · confusedly · muteC · luteC
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| When I thy singing next shall hear, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| I'll wish I might turn all to ear | 8 | ········ |
| To drink in notes and numbers such | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| As blessed souls can't hear too much; | 7 | ······· |
| Then melted down, there let me lie | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Entranc'd and lost confusedly, | 8 | ˘/··˘/˘˘ |
| And, by thy music stricken mute, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Die and be turn'd into a lute. | 8 | ········ |
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.