88. To Julia
How rich and pleasing thou, my Julia, artIn each thy dainty and peculiar part!First, for thy queenship, on thy head is setOf flowers a sweet commingled coronet:About thy neck a carcanet is bound,Made of the ruby, pearl and diamond:A golden ring that shines upon thy thumb:About thy wrist, the rich dardanium.Between thy breasts (than down of swans more white)There plays the sapphire with the chrysolite.No part besides must of thyself be known,But by the topaz, opal, chalcedon.
Words in this poem
- dainty n.
- Value; estimation; the gratification or pleasure taken in anything. [OE. deinie, dainte, deintie, deyntee, OF. deintié delicacy, orig., dignity, honor, fr. L. dignitas, fr. dignus worthy. See Deign, and cf. Dignity.]
- queenship n.
- The state, rank, or dignity of a queen.
- carcanet n.
- A jeweled chain, necklace, or collar. [Also written carkenet and carcant.] [Dim. fr. F. carcan the iron collar or chain of a criminal, a chain of preciousstones, LL. carcannum, fr. Armor. kerchen bosom, neck, kechen collar, fr. kelch ci]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
88. To Julia 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, 88. To Julia, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/88-to-julia.html, id L05149.
Form and metre
88. To Julia is 12 lines in a single stanza. 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 92%). 93% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.9 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 17% 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--DD-- artA · partA · setB · coronetB · boundC · diamondC · thumb · dardanium · whiteD · chrysoliteD · known · chalcedon
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 |
|---|---|---|
| How rich and pleasing thou, my Julia, art | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| In each thy dainty and peculiar part! | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| First, for thy queenship, on thy head is set | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Of flowers a sweet commingled coronet: | 10 | ·/··˘/˘/˘/ |
| About thy neck a carcanet is bound, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| Made of the ruby, pearl and diamond: | 9 | ···/˘··/˘ |
| A golden ring that shines upon thy thumb: | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| About thy wrist, the rich dardanium. | 9 | ········· |
| Between thy breasts (than down of swans more white) | 10 | ·········· |
| There plays the sapphire with the chrysolite. | 11 | ···/˘˘··/˘˘ |
| No part besides must of thyself be known, | 10 | ··˘/··˘/·· |
| But by the topaz, opal, chalcedon. | 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.