850. The Delaying Bride
Why so slowly do you moveTo the centre of your love?On your niceness though we wait,Yet the hours say 'tis late:Coyness takes us, to a measure;But o'eracted deads the pleasure.Go to bed, and care not whenCheerful day shall spring again.One brave captain did command,By his word, the sun to stand:One short charm, if you but say,Will enforce the moon to stay,Till you warn her hence, away,T' have your blushes seen by day.
Words in this poem
- centre v. i.
- To be placed in a center; to be central.
- niceness n.
- Quality or state of being nice.
- deads n.
- The substances which inclose the ore on every side.
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
850. The Delaying Bride 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, 850. The Delaying Bride, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/850-the-delaying-bride.html, id L05777.
Form and metre
850. The Delaying Bride is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.2 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 14% 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 AABBCCDDEEFFFF moveA · loveA · waitB · lateB · measureC · pleasureC · whenD · againD · commandE · standE · sayF · stayF · awayF · dayF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Why so slowly do you move | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| To the centre of your love? | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| On your niceness though we wait, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Yet the hours say 'tis late: | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Coyness takes us, to a measure; | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| But o'eracted deads the pleasure. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Go to bed, and care not when | 7 | ······· |
| Cheerful day shall spring again. | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| One brave captain did command, | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| By his word, the sun to stand: | 7 | ······· |
| One short charm, if you but say, | 7 | ······· |
| Will enforce the moon to stay, | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Till you warn her hence, away, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| T' have your blushes seen by day. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
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.