716. A Bucolic, or Discourse of Neatherds
Come, blitheful neatherds, let us layA wager who the best shall play,Of thee or I, the roundelayThat fits the business of the day.
Chor. And Lalage the judge shall be,To give the prize to thee, or me.
Content, begin, and I will betA heifer smooth, and black as jet,In every part alike complete,And wanton as a kid as yet.
Chor. And Lalage, with cow-like eyes,Shall be disposeress of the prize.
Against thy heifer, I will hereLay to thy stake a lusty steerWith gilded horns, and burnish'd clear.
Chor. Why, then, begin, and let us hearThe soft, the sweet, the mellow noteThat gently purls from either's oat.
Lal. The equal umpire shall be I,Who'll hear, and so judge righteously.
Chor. Much time is spent in prate; begin,And sooner play, the sooner win.
That's sweetly touch'd, I must confess,Thou art a man of worthiness;But hark how I can now expressMy love unto my neatherdess. [He sings
Chor. A sugar'd note! and sound as sweetAs kine when they at milking meet.
Now for to win thy heifer fair,I'll strike thee such a nimble airThat thou shalt say thyself 'tis rare,And title me without compare.
Chor. Lay by a while your pipes, and rest,Since both have here deserved best.
To get thy steerling, once againI'll play thee such another strainThat thou shalt swear my pipe does reignOver thine oat as sovereign. [He sings
Chor. And Lalage shall tell by this,Whose now the prize and wager is.
Give me the prize. 2. The day is mine.1. Not so; my pipe has silenc'd thine:And hadst thou wager'd twenty kine,They were mine own. Lal. In love combine.
Chor. And lay ye down your pipes together,As weary, not o'ercome by either.
Words in this poem
- blitheful a.
- Gay; full of gayety; joyous.
- 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,]
- righteously adv.
- In a righteous manner; as, to judge righteously. [AS. rightwislice.]
- worthiness n.
- The quality or state of being worthy; desert; merit; excellence; dignity; virtue; worth.
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
- steerling n.
- A young small steer.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
716. A Bucolic, or Discourse of Neatherds 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, 716. A Bucolic, or Discourse of Neatherds, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/716-a-bucolic-or-discourse-of-neatherds.html, id L05661.
Form and metre
716. A Bucolic, or Discourse of Neatherds is 46 lines in 16 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 70% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.3 syllables. 6 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% 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 AAAA layA · playA · roundelayA · dayA
- 2 AA beA · meA
- 3 AA-A betA · jetA · complete · yetA
- 4 AA eyesA · prizeA
- 5 AAA hereA · steerA · clearA
- 6 -AA hear · noteA · oatA
- 8 AA beginA · winA
- 9 AAA- confessA · worthinessA · expressA · sings
- 10 AA sweetA · meetA
- 11 AAAA fairA · airA · rareA · compareA
- 12 AA restA · bestA
- 13 AAA- againA · strainA · reignA · sings
- 15 AAAA mineA · thineA · kineA · combineA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Come, blitheful neatherds, let us lay | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A wager who the best shall play, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Of thee or I, the roundelay | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| That fits the business of the day. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Chor. And Lalage the judge shall be, | 8 | ········ |
| To give the prize to thee, or me. | 8 | ········ |
| Content, begin, and I will bet | 8 | ˘/˘/···· |
| A heifer smooth, and black as jet, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| In every part alike complete, | 9 | ·/˘˘·˘/˘/ |
| And wanton as a kid as yet. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Chor. And Lalage, with cow-like eyes, | 8 | ········ |
| Shall be disposeress of the prize. | 9 | ········· |
| Against thy heifer, I will here | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Lay to thy stake a lusty steer | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With gilded horns, and burnish'd clear. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Chor. Why, then, begin, and let us hear | 9 | ···˘/···· |
| The soft, the sweet, the mellow note | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That gently purls from either's oat. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Lal. The equal umpire shall be I, | 10 | ··/˘/·˘··· |
| Who'll hear, and so judge righteously. | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| Chor. Much time is spent in prate; begin, | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| And sooner play, the sooner win. | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| That's sweetly touch'd, I must confess, | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Thou art a man of worthiness; | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| But hark how I can now express | 8 | ······˘/ |
| My love unto my neatherdess. [He sings | 10 | ·········· |
| Chor. A sugar'd note! and sound as sweet | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| As kine when they at milking meet. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Now for to win thy heifer fair, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| I'll strike thee such a nimble air | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| That thou shalt say thyself 'tis rare, | 8 | ····˘/·· |
| And title me without compare. | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Chor. Lay by a while your pipes, and rest, | 9 | ········· |
| Since both have here deserved best. | 7 | ····˘/· |
| To get thy steerling, once again | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| I'll play thee such another strain | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| That thou shalt swear my pipe does reign | 8 | ········ |
| Over thine oat as sovereign. [He sings | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Chor. And Lalage shall tell by this, | 8 | ········ |
| Whose now the prize and wager is. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Give me the prize. 2. The day is mine. | 8 | ········ |
| 1. Not so; my pipe has silenc'd thine: | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And hadst thou wager'd twenty kine, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| They were mine own. Lal. In love combine. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Chor. And lay ye down your pipes together, | 10 | ·······˘/˘ |
| As weary, not o'ercome by either. | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
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