764. Upon His Kinswoman, Mrs. M. S
Here lies a virgin, and as sweetAs e'er was wrapt in winding sheet.Her name if next you would have known,The marble speaks it, Mary Stone:Who dying in her blooming years,This stone for name's sake melts to tears.If, fragrant virgins, you'll but keepA fast, while jets and marbles weep,And praying, strew some roses on her,You'll do my niece abundant honour.
Words in this poem
- niece n.
- A relative, in general; especially, a descendant, whether male or female; a granddaughter or a grandson. B. Jonson. Wyclif. [OE. nece, F. nièce, LL. neptia, for L. neptis a granddaughter, niece, akin to nepos. See Nephew.]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
764. Upon His Kinswoman, Mrs. M. S 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, 764. Upon His Kinswoman, Mrs. M. S, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/764-upon-his-kinswoman-mrs-m-s.html, id L05705.
Form and metre
764. Upon His Kinswoman, Mrs. M. S is 10 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 80% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 20% 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 AABBCCDD-- sweetA · sheetA · knownB · stoneB · yearsC · tearsC · keepD · weepD · her · honour
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Here lies a virgin, and as sweet | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| As e'er was wrapt in winding sheet. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Her name if next you would have known, | 8 | ········ |
| The marble speaks it, Mary Stone: | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| Who dying in her blooming years, | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| This stone for name's sake melts to tears. | 8 | ········ |
| If, fragrant virgins, you'll but keep | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| A fast, while jets and marbles weep, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| And praying, strew some roses on her, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘·· |
| You'll do my niece abundant honour. | 9 | ····˘/˘/˘ |
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.