802. Any Way for Wealth
E'en all religious courses to be richHath been rehers'd by Joel Michelditch:But now perceiving that it still does pleaseThe sterner fates, to cross his purposes;He tacks about, and now he doth professRich he will be by all unrighteousness;Thus if our ship fails of her anchor holdWe'll love the divel, so he lands the gold.
Words in this poem
- sterner n.
- A director. Dr. R. Clerke. [See 3d Stern.]
- divel v. t.
- To rend apart. Sir T. Browne. [L. divellere; dit- = dis- + vellere to pluck.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
802. Any Way for Wealth 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, 802. Any Way for Wealth, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/802-any-way-for-wealth.html, id L06405.
Form and metre
802. Any Way for Wealth is 8 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 75% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 50% 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 --AABBCC rich · michelditch · pleaseA · purposesA · professB · unrighteousnessB · holdC · goldC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| E'en all religious courses to be rich | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘··· |
| Hath been rehers'd by Joel Michelditch: | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| But now perceiving that it still does please | 10 | ··˘/˘····· |
| The sterner fates, to cross his purposes; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| He tacks about, and now he doth profess | 10 | ········˘/ |
| Rich he will be by all unrighteousness; | 10 | ·········· |
| Thus if our ship fails of her anchor hold | 10 | ··/····/˘· |
| We'll love the divel, so he lands the gold. | 10 | ···˘/····· |
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.