740. The Apron of Flowers
To gather flowers Sappha went,And homeward she did bringWithin her lawny continentThe treasure of the spring.
She smiling blush'd, and blushing smil'd,And sweetly blushing thus,She look'd as she'd been got with childBy young Favonius.
Her apron gave, as she did pass,An odour more divine,More pleasing, too, than ever wasThe lap of Proserpine.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- homeward a.
- Being in the direction of home; as, the homeward way.
- lawny a.
- Having a lawn; characterized by a lawn or by lawns; like a lawn.
- continent a.
- Serving to restrain or limit; restraining; opposing. [L. continens, -entis, prop., p. pr. of continere to hold together, to repress: cf. F. continent. See Contain.]
- odour n.
- Any smell, whether fragrant or offensive; scent; perfume. [OE. odor, odour, OF. odor, odour, F. odeur, fr. L. odor; akin to olere to smell, Gr. Olfactory, Osmium, Ozone, Redolent.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
740. The Apron of Flowers 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, 740. The Apron of Flowers, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/740-the-apron-of-flowers.html, id L05682.
Form and metre
740. The Apron of Flowers is 12 lines in 3 stanzas of 4 lines each. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.9 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% 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 wentA · bringB · continentA · springB
- 2 A-A- smil'dA · thus · childA · favonius
- 3 -A-A pass · divineA · was · proserpineA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| To gather flowers Sappha went, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| And homeward she did bring | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Within her lawny continent | 8 | ···/˘/˘˘ |
| The treasure of the spring. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| She smiling blush'd, and blushing smil'd, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| And sweetly blushing thus, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| She look'd as she'd been got with child | 8 | ········ |
| By young Favonius. | 5 | ····· |
| Her apron gave, as she did pass, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| An odour more divine, | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| More pleasing, too, than ever was | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| The lap of Proserpine. | 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.