749. Consultation
Consult ere thou begin'st; that done, go onWith all wise speed for execution.
Consult, take counsel. The word and the epigram are suggested bySallust's "Nam et, prius quam incipias, consulto, et ubiconsulueris, mature facto opus est," Cat. i.
Words in this poem
- consult n.
- The act of consulting or deliberating; consultation; also, the result of consulation; determination; decision.
- facto adv.
- In fact; by the act or fact. De facto. (Law) See De facto. [L., ablative of factum deed, fact.]
- opus n.
- A work; specif. (Mus.), a musical composition. [L. See Opera.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
749. Consultation 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, 749. Consultation, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/749-consultation.html, id L05691.
Form and metre
749. Consultation is 5 lines in 2 stanzas. The lines average 13.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 AA onA · executionA
- 2 A-A byA · ubi · iA
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. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Consult ere thou begin'st; that done, go on | 10 | ˘/········ |
| With all wise speed for execution. | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| Consult, take counsel. The word and the epigram are suggested by | 17 | ˘/·/˘····/˘··˘/˘· |
| Sallust's "Nam et, prius quam incipias, consulto, et ubi | 15 | ··············· |
| consulueris, mature facto opus est," Cat. i. | 14 | ····˘//˘/˘˘/·· |
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.