983. To His Kinsman, M. Tho. Herrick, Who Desired to Be in His Book

Robert Herrick (1591–1674) · 1648

iambic tetrameter · rhyming couplets · 4 lines · from Hesperides

Welcome to this my college, and though lateThou'st got a place here (standing candidate)It matters not, since thou art chosen oneHere of my great and good foundation.

About this text

983. To His Kinsman, M. Tho. Herrick, Who Desired to Be in His Book 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, 983. To His Kinsman, M. Tho. Herrick, Who Desired to Be in His Book, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/983-to-his-kinsman-m-tho-herrick-who-desired-to-be-in-his-bo.html, id L05889.

Form and metre

983. To His Kinsman, M. Tho. Herrick, Who Desired to Be in His Book is 4 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets. The lines average 9.8 syllables. 2 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.

See other poems in rhyming couplets.

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. 1 AABB lateA · candidateA · oneB · foundationB
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. How this is done.

LineSyl.Stress
Welcome to this my college, and though late10/˘···/˘···
Thou'st got a place here (standing candidate)10·····/˘/˘˘
It matters not, since thou art chosen one10·/˘····/˘·
Here of my great and good foundation.9······˘/˘

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.

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