991. To Bianca
Ah, Bianca! now I seeIt is noon and past with me:In a while it will strike one;Then, Bianca, I am gone.Some effusions let me haveOffer'd on my holy grave;Then, Bianca, let me restWith my face towards the East.
About this text
991. To Bianca 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, 991. To Bianca, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/991-to-bianca.html, id L05895.
Form and metre
991. To Bianca is 8 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%). 100% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 7.0 syllables. 38% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, other poems in iambic 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-- seeA · meA · one · gone · haveB · graveB · rest · east
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Ah, Bianca! now I see | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| It is noon and past with me: | 7 | ······· |
| In a while it will strike one; | 7 | ······· |
| Then, Bianca, I am gone. | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| Some effusions let me have | 7 | ······· |
| Offer'd on my holy grave; | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Then, Bianca, let me rest | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| With my face towards the East. | 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.