968. The Deluge
Drowning, drowning, I espyComing from my Julia's eye:'Tis some solace in our smart,To have friends to bear a part:I have none; but must be sureTh' inundation to endure.Shall not times hereafter tellThis for no mean miracle?When the waters by their fallThreaten'd ruin unto all,Yet the deluge here was knownOf a world to drown but one.
Words in this poem
- solace n.
- Comfort in grief; alleviation of grief or anxiety; also, that which relieves in distress; that which cheers or consoles; relief. [OF. solas, ssoulaz, L. solacium, solatium, fr. solari to comfort, console. Cf. Console, v. t.]
- 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,]
- hereafter adv.
- In time to come; in some future time or state. [AS. hræfter.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
968. The Deluge 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, 968. The Deluge, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/968-the-deluge.html, id L05878.
Form and metre
968. The Deluge is 12 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 67% of the lines. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 90% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.1 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 42% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic 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 --AABBCCDD-- espy · eye · smartA · partA · sureB · endureB · tellC · miracleC · fallD · allD · known · one
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Drowning, drowning, I espy | 7 | /˘/˘·/˘ |
| Coming from my Julia's eye: | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| 'Tis some solace in our smart, | 7 | ··/˘·/· |
| To have friends to bear a part: | 7 | ······· |
| I have none; but must be sure | 7 | ······· |
| Th' inundation to endure. | 7 | ·˘/˘·˘/ |
| Shall not times hereafter tell | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| This for no mean miracle? | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| When the waters by their fall | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Threaten'd ruin unto all, | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| Yet the deluge here was known | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Of a world to drown but one. | 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.