73. Of Love. a Sonnet
How love came in I do not know,Whether by the eye, or ear, or no;Or whether with the soul it came(At first) infused with the same;Whether in part 'tis here or there,Or, like the soul, whole everywhere,This troubles me: but I as wellAs any other this can tell:That when from hence she does departThe outlet then is from the heart.
Words in this poem
- depart v. i.
- To part; to divide; to separate. [OE. departen to divide, part, depart, F. départir to divide, distribute, se départir to separate one's self, depart; pref. dé- (L. de) + partir to part, depart,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
73. Of Love. a Sonnet 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, 73. Of Love. a Sonnet, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/73-of-love-a-sonnet.html, id L05134.
Form and metre
73. Of Love. a Sonnet is 10 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 90%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 30% 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 AABBCCDDEE knowA · noA · cameB · sameB · thereC · everywhereC · wellD · tellD · departE · heartE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| How love came in I do not know, | 8 | ········ |
| Whether by the eye, or ear, or no; | 9 | ········· |
| Or whether with the soul it came | 8 | ········ |
| (At first) infused with the same; | 7 | ··˘/··· |
| Whether in part 'tis here or there, | 8 | ········ |
| Or, like the soul, whole everywhere, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| This troubles me: but I as well | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| As any other this can tell: | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| That when from hence she does depart | 8 | ······˘/ |
| The outlet then is from the heart. | 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.