8. When He Would Have His Verses Read
In sober mornings, do not thou rehearseThe holy incantation of a verse;But when that men have both well drunk and fed,Let my enchantments then be sung or read.When laurel spirts i'th' fire, and when the hearthSmiles to itself, and gilds the roof with mirth;When up the thyrse is rais'd, and when the soundOf sacred orgies flies, a round, a round.When the rose reigns, and locks with ointments shine,Let rigid Cato read these lines of mine.
"A javelin twined with ivy" (Note in the original edition).
"Songs to Bacchus" (Note in the original edition.)
About this text
8. When He Would Have His Verses Read 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, 8. When He Would Have His Verses Read, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/8-when-he-would-have-his-verses-read.html, id L05071.
Form and metre
8. When He Would Have His Verses Read is 12 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%). 97% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 30% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 AABB--CCDD rehearseA · verseA · fedB · readB · hearth · mirth · soundC · roundC · shineD · mineD
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| In sober mornings, do not thou rehearse | 10 | ·/˘/˘···˘/ |
| The holy incantation of a verse; | 10 | ·/˘˘//˘··· |
| But when that men have both well drunk and fed, | 10 | ·········· |
| Let my enchantments then be sung or read. | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| When laurel spirts i'th' fire, and when the hearth | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| Smiles to itself, and gilds the roof with mirth; | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| When up the thyrse is rais'd, and when the sound | 10 | ·········· |
| Of sacred orgies flies, a round, a round. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| When the rose reigns, and locks with ointments shine, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Let rigid Cato read these lines of mine. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| "A javelin twined with ivy" (Note in the original edition). | 16 | ·/˘··/˘···˘/˘˘/˘ |
| "Songs to Bacchus" (Note in the original edition.) | 13 | ··/˘···˘/˘˘/˘ |
Notes from the edition 1
Word-glosses from Pollard's edition (Muses' Library, 1891; Project Gutenberg #22421).
- Stanza 1 Round: a rustic dance · Cato: see Martial, x. 17, quoted in Note
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