901. To His Friend to Avoid Contention of Words
Words beget anger; anger brings forth blows;Blows make of dearest friends immortal foes.For which prevention, sociate, let there beBetwixt us two no more logomachy.Far better 'twere for either to be mute,Than for to murder friendship by dispute.
Words in this poem
- prevention n.
- The act of going, or state of being, before. [Cf. F. prévention.]
- sociate v. i.
- To associate. Shelford.
- betwixt prep.
- In the space which separates; between. [OE. betwix, bitwix, rarely bitwixt, AS. betweox, betweohs, betweoh, betwih; pref. be- by + a form fr. AS. twa two. See Between.]
- logomachy n.
- Contention in words merely, or a contention about words; a war of words. [Gr. logomachie.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
901. To His Friend to Avoid Contention of Words 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, 901. To His Friend to Avoid Contention of Words, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/901-to-his-friend-to-avoid-contention-of-words.html, id L05820.
Form and metre
901. To His Friend to Avoid Contention of Words is 6 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 84%). 89% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.2 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 AA--BB blowsA · foesA · be · logomachy · muteB · disputeB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Words beget anger; anger brings forth blows; | 10 | ·˘//˘/˘··· |
| Blows make of dearest friends immortal foes. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| For which prevention, sociate, let there be | 11 | ··˘/˘/˘˘··· |
| Betwixt us two no more logomachy. | 10 | ˘/····˘/˘˘ |
| Far better 'twere for either to be mute, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Than for to murder friendship by dispute. | 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.