976. To Perenna
I a dirge will pen to thee;Thou a trentall make for me:That the monks and friars together,Here may sing the rest of either:Next, I'm sure, the nuns will haveCandlemas to grace the grave.
Words in this poem
- dirge n.
- A piece of music of a mournful character, to accompany funeral rites; a funeral hymn. [Contraction of Lat. dirige, direct thou (imperative of dirigere), the first word of a funeral hymn (Lat. transl. of Psalm v. 8) beginning, "Dirige, Domine, in c]
- trentall n.
- An office and mass for the dead on the thirtieth day after death or burial. [LL. trentale, fr. L. triginta thirty; akin to tres three: cf. OF. trentel. See Three, and cf. Trigintal.]
- candlemas n.
- The second day of February, on which is celebrated the feast of the Purification of the Virgin Mary; -- so called because the candles for the altar or other sacred uses are blessed on that day. [AS. candelmæsse, candel candle _ mæsse mass.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
976. To Perenna 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, 976. To Perenna, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/976-to-perenna.html, id L05883.
Form and metre
976. To Perenna is 6 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 92%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.5 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
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 AA--BB theeA · meA · together · either · haveB · graveB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I a dirge will pen to thee; | 7 | ······· |
| Thou a trentall make for me: | 7 | ······· |
| That the monks and friars together, | 9 | ····/˘˘/˘ |
| Here may sing the rest of either: | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Next, I'm sure, the nuns will have | 7 | ······· |
| Candlemas to grace the grave. | 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.