874. A Hymn to Cupid
Thou, thou that bear'st the sway,With whom the sea-nymphs play;And Venus, every way:When I embrace thy knee,And make short pray'rs to thee,In love then prosper me.This day I go to woo;Instruct me how to doThis work thou put'st me to.From shame my face keep free;From scorn I beg of thee,Love, to deliver me:So shall I sing thy praise,And to thee altars raise,Unto the end of days.
Words in this poem
- prosper v. t.
- To favor; to render successful. [F. prospérer v. i., or L. prosperare, v. i., or L. prosperare, v. t., fr. prosper or prosperus. See Prosperous.]
- instruct a.
- Arranged; furnished; provided. [L. instructus, p. p. of instruere to furnish, provide, construct, instruct; pref. in- in, struere. See Structure.]
- 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
874. A Hymn to Cupid 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, 874. A Hymn to Cupid, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/874-a-hymn-to-cupid.html, id L05801.
Form and metre
874. A Hymn to Cupid is 15 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%). 99% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 6.1 syllables. 7% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 AAABBBCCCBBBDDD swayA · playA · wayA · kneeB · theeB · meB · wooC · doC · toC · freeB · theeB · meB · praiseD · raiseD · daysD
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Thou, thou that bear'st the sway, | 6 | ······ |
| With whom the sea-nymphs play; | 6 | ······ |
| And Venus, every way: | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| When I embrace thy knee, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| And make short pray'rs to thee, | 6 | ······ |
| In love then prosper me. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| This day I go to woo; | 6 | ······ |
| Instruct me how to do | 6 | ˘/···· |
| This work thou put'st me to. | 6 | ······ |
| From shame my face keep free; | 6 | ······ |
| From scorn I beg of thee, | 6 | ······ |
| Love, to deliver me: | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| So shall I sing thy praise, | 6 | ······ |
| And to thee altars raise, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Unto the end of days. | 6 | ······ |
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.