975. Upon Case
Case is a lawyer, that ne'er pleads alone,But when he hears the like confusion,As when the disagreeing Commons throwAbout their House, their clamorous Aye or No:Then Case, as loud as any serjeant there,Cries out: My lord, my lord, the case is clear.But when all's hush'd, Case, than a fish more mute,Bestirs his hand, but starves in hand the suit.
Words in this poem
- commons n.
- The mass of the people, as distinguished from the titled chasses or nobility; the commonalty; the common people. [Eng.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
975. Upon Case 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, 975. Upon Case, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/975-upon-case.html, id L05882.
Form and metre
975. Upon Case is 8 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%). 94% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 1 line ends on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending. 12% 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 AABBCCDD aloneA · confusionA · throwB · noB · thereC · clearC · muteD · suitD
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Case is a lawyer, that ne'er pleads alone, | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| But when he hears the like confusion, | 9 | ······˘/˘ |
| As when the disagreeing Commons throw | 10 | ···˘˘/˘/˘· |
| About their House, their clamorous Aye or No: | 11 | ·····/˘˘··· |
| Then Case, as loud as any serjeant there, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Cries out: My lord, my lord, the case is clear. | 10 | ·········· |
| But when all's hush'd, Case, than a fish more mute, | 10 | ·········· |
| Bestirs his hand, but starves in hand the suit. | 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.