883. The Shower of Blossoms
Love in a shower of blossoms cameDown, and half drown'd me with the same:The blooms that fell were white and red;But with such sweets comminglèd,As whether--this I cannot tell--My sight was pleas'd more, or my smell:But true it was, as I roll'd there,Without a thought of hurt or fear,Love turn'd himself into a bee,And with his javelin wounded me:From which mishap this use I make,Where most sweets are, there lies a snake:Kisses and favours are sweet things;But those have thorns and these have stings.
Words in this poem
- mishap v. i.
- To happen unluckily; -- used impersonally.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
883. The Shower of Blossoms 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, 883. The Shower of Blossoms, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/883-the-shower-of-blossoms.html, id L05806.
Form and metre
883. The Shower of Blossoms is 14 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 86% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 8.0 syllables. 7% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic 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 AA--BBCCDDEEFF cameA · sameA · red · comminglèd · tellB · smellB · thereC · fearC · beeD · meD · makeE · snakeE · thingsF · stingsF
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Love in a shower of blossoms came | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| Down, and half drown'd me with the same: | 8 | ········ |
| The blooms that fell were white and red; | 8 | ········ |
| But with such sweets comminglèd, | 6 | ······ |
| As whether--this I cannot tell-- | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| My sight was pleas'd more, or my smell: | 8 | ········ |
| But true it was, as I roll'd there, | 8 | ········ |
| Without a thought of hurt or fear, | 8 | ········ |
| Love turn'd himself into a bee, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| And with his javelin wounded me: | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| From which mishap this use I make, | 8 | ··/····· |
| Where most sweets are, there lies a snake: | 8 | ········ |
| Kisses and favours are sweet things; | 8 | /˘·/˘··· |
| But those have thorns and these have stings. | 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.