996. Anacreontic Verse
Brisk methinks I am, and fineWhen I drink my cap'ring wine:Then to love I do incline,When I drink my wanton wine:And I wish all maidens mine,When I drink my sprightly wine:Well I sup and well I dine,When I drink my frolic wine;But I languish, lower, and pine,When I want my fragrant wine.
Words in this poem
- methinks v.
- It seems to me; I think. See Me. [AS. þyncan to seem, me þynceedh, me þuhte, OE. me thinketh, me thoughte; akin to G. dünken to seem, denken to think, and E. think. See Me, and Think.]
- dine v. i.
- To eat the principal regular meal of the day; to take dinner. [F. dîner, OF. disner, LL. disnare, contr. fr. an assumed disjunare; dis- + an assumed junare (OF. juner) to fast, for L. jejunare, fr. jejunus fasting. See Jeju]
- languish v. i.
- To cause to dr Shak.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
996. Anacreontic Verse 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, 996. Anacreontic Verse, in Hesperides (1648), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22421, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/herrick-hesperides/996-anacreontic-verse.html, id L05900.
Form and metre
996. Anacreontic Verse is 10 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: 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 7.1 syllables. 10% 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 AAAAAAAAAA fineA · wineA · inclineA · wineA · mineA · wineA · dineA · wineA · pineA · wineA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Brisk methinks I am, and fine | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| When I drink my cap'ring wine: | 7 | ······· |
| Then to love I do incline, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| When I drink my wanton wine: | 7 | ····/˘· |
| And I wish all maidens mine, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| When I drink my sprightly wine: | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Well I sup and well I dine, | 7 | ······· |
| When I drink my frolic wine; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| But I languish, lower, and pine, | 7 | ··/˘/·· |
| When I want my fragrant wine. | 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.