70. The Succession of the Four Sweet Months
First, April, she with mellow showersOpens the way for early flowers;Then after her comes smiling May,In a more rich and sweet array;Next enters June, and brings us moreGems than those two that went before:Then (lastly) July comes, and sheMore wealth brings in than all those three.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- lastly adv.
- In the last place; in conclusion.
- wealth n.
- Weal; welfare; prosperity; good. [OE. welthe, from wele; cf. D. weelde luxury. See Weal prosperity.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
70. The Succession of the Four Sweet Months 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, 70. The Succession of the Four Sweet Months, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/70-the-succession-of-the-four-sweet-months.html, id L05131.
Form and metre
70. The Succession of the Four Sweet Months is 8 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 2 lines end 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 AABBCCDD showersA · flowersA · mayB · arrayB · moreC · beforeC · sheD · threeD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| First, April, she with mellow showers | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Opens the way for early flowers; | 9 | /˘···/˘/˘ |
| Then after her comes smiling May, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In a more rich and sweet array; | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Next enters June, and brings us more | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Gems than those two that went before: | 8 | ········ |
| Then (lastly) July comes, and she | 8 | ·/˘·/··· |
| More wealth brings in than all those three. | 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.