761. The Wake
Come, Anthea, let us twoGo to feast, as others do.Tarts and custards, creams and cakes,Are the junkets still at wakes:Unto which the tribes resort,Where the business is the sport.Morris-dancers thou shall see,Marian, too, in pageantry,And a mimic to deviseMany grinning properties.Players there will be, and thoseBase in action as in clothes;Yet with strutting they will pleaseThe incurious villages.Near the dying of the dayThere will be a cudgel-play,Where a coxcomb will be brokeEre a good word can be spoke:But the anger ends all here,Drenched in ale, or drown'd in beer.Happy rustics! best contentWith the cheapest merriment,And possess no other fearThan to want the wake next year.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- marian a.
- Pertaining to the Virgin Mary, or sometimes to Mary, Queen of England, daughter of Henry VIII.
- pageantry n.
- Scenic shows or spectacles, taken collectivelly; spectacular guality; splendor.
- incurious a.
- Not curious or inquisitive; without care for or interest in; inattentive; careless; negligent; heedless. [L. incuriosus: cf. F. incurieux. See In- not, and Curious.]
- broke v. i.
- To transact business for another. Brome. [See Broker, and cf. Brook.]
- 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
761. The Wake 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, 761. The Wake, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/761-the-wake.html, id L05702.
Form and metre
761. The Wake is 24 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 83% of the lines. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 4 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 rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic 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 AABBCC--DDEEDEFFGGHHIIHH twoA · doA · cakesB · wakesB · resortC · sportC · see · pageantry · deviseD · propertiesD · thoseE · clothesE · pleaseD · villagesE · dayF · playF · brokeG · spokeG · hereH · beerH · contentI · merrimentI · fearH · yearH
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Come, Anthea, let us two | 7 | ·/˘˘··· |
| Go to feast, as others do. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Tarts and custards, creams and cakes, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Are the junkets still at wakes: | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Unto which the tribes resort, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Where the business is the sport. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Morris-dancers thou shall see, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Marian, too, in pageantry, | 8 | /˘˘··/˘˘ |
| And a mimic to devise | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Many grinning properties. | 7 | /˘/˘/˘˘ |
| Players there will be, and those | 7 | /˘····· |
| Base in action as in clothes; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Yet with strutting they will please | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| The incurious villages. | 8 | ·˘/˘˘/˘˘ |
| Near the dying of the day | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| There will be a cudgel-play, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Where a coxcomb will be broke | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Ere a good word can be spoke: | 7 | ······· |
| But the anger ends all here, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Drenched in ale, or drown'd in beer. | 7 | ······· |
| Happy rustics! best content | 7 | /˘/˘·˘/ |
| With the cheapest merriment, | 7 | ··/˘/˘˘ |
| And possess no other fear | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| Than to want the wake next year. | 7 | ······· |
Notes from the edition 1
Word-glosses from Pollard's edition (Muses' Library, 1891; Project Gutenberg #22421).
- Marian: Maid Marian of the Robin Hood ballads · Action: _i.e._, dramatic action · Incurious: careless, easily pleased · Coxcomb: to cause blood to flow from the opponent's head was the
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