946. An Hymn to Love
I will confessWith cheerfulness,Love is a thing so likes me,That let her layOn me all day,I'll kiss the hand that strikes me.
I will not, I,Now blubb'ring, cry,It, ah! too late repents me,That I did fallTo love at all,Since love so much contents me.
No, no, I'll beIn fetters free:While others they sit wringingTheir hands for pain,I'll entertainThe wounds of love with singing.
With flowers and wine,And cakes divine,To strike me I will tempt thee:Which done; no moreI'll come beforeThee and thine altars empty.
Words in this poem
- wringing
- a. & n. from Wring, v. Wringing machine, a wringer. See Wringer, 2.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
946. An Hymn to Love 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, 946. An Hymn to Love, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/946-an-hymn-to-love.html, id L05861.
Form and metre
946. An Hymn to Love is 24 lines in 4 stanzas of 6 lines each. The rhyme scheme is AABCCB, complete in 3 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is iambic dimeter, 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 5.0 syllables. 4 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 33% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic dimeter.
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 AABCCB confessA · cheerfulnessA · meB · layC · dayC · meB
- 2 AABCCB iA · cryA · meB · fallC · allC · meB
- 3 AABCCB beA · freeA · wringingB · painC · entertainC · singingB
- 4 AA-BB- wineA · divineA · thee · moreB · beforeB · empty
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 dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I will confess | 4 | ··˘/ |
| With cheerfulness, | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| Love is a thing so likes me, | 7 | ······· |
| That let her lay | 4 | ···· |
| On me all day, | 4 | ···· |
| I'll kiss the hand that strikes me. | 7 | ······· |
| I will not, I, | 4 | ···· |
| Now blubb'ring, cry, | 4 | ···· |
| It, ah! too late repents me, | 7 | ····˘/· |
| That I did fall | 4 | ···· |
| To love at all, | 4 | ···· |
| Since love so much contents me. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| No, no, I'll be | 4 | ···· |
| In fetters free: | 4 | ·/˘· |
| While others they sit wringing | 7 | ·/˘··/˘ |
| Their hands for pain, | 4 | ···· |
| I'll entertain | 4 | ··˘/ |
| The wounds of love with singing. | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| With flowers and wine, | 4 | ·/·· |
| And cakes divine, | 4 | ··˘/ |
| To strike me I will tempt thee: | 7 | ······· |
| Which done; no more | 4 | ···· |
| I'll come before | 4 | ···· |
| Thee and thine altars empty. | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
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.