75. The Rock of Rubies, and the Quarry of Pearls
Some ask'd me where the rubies grew,And nothing I did say:But with my finger pointed toThe lips of Julia.Some ask'd how pearls did grow, and where;Then spoke I to my girl,To part her lips, and show'd them thereThe quarrelets of Pearl.
Words in this poem
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
75. The Rock of Rubies, and the Quarry of Pearls 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, 75. The Rock of Rubies, and the Quarry of Pearls, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/75-the-rock-of-rubies-and-the-quarry-of-pearls.html, id L05136.
Form and metre
75. The Rock of Rubies, and the Quarry of Pearls is 8 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.9 syllables. 25% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 A-A-BCBC grewA · say · toA · julia · whereB · girlC · thereB · pearlC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Some ask'd me where the rubies grew, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And nothing I did say: | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| But with my finger pointed to | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| The lips of Julia. | 5 | ····· |
| Some ask'd how pearls did grow, and where; | 8 | ········ |
| Then spoke I to my girl, | 6 | ······ |
| To part her lips, and show'd them there | 8 | ········ |
| The quarrelets of Pearl. | 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.