Also Herrick, a Thanksgiving to God
"Lord, I confess too, when I dine,The pulse is thine.
'Tis thou that crown'st my glittering hearthWith guiltless mirth,And giv'st me wassail bowls to drink,Spiced to the brink."
"But (what's more strange) their modest appetites,Averse from Venus, fly the nuptial rights;No lust enervates their heroic mind,Nor wastes their strength on wanton womankind,But in their mouths reside their genial powers,They gather children from the leaves and flowers."
"... fierce Phlegethon,Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage."
"Down Thou earnest, low as earth,Bound to those of mortal birth;Down Thou earnest, low as hell,Where Shepherd-Death did tend and keepA thousand nations like to sheep,While weak with age old Hades fellShivering through his dark to view Thee.
So, redeeming from their painChains of disembodied ones,Thou didst lead whom thou didst gatherUpward in ascent again,With a great hymn to the Father,Upward to the pure white thrones!"
For a modern treatment of the theme see Christ in Hades, byStephen Phillips.
Words in this poem
- 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]
- guiltless a.
- Free from guilt; innocent.
- brink n.
- The edge, margin, or border of a steep place, as of a precipice; a bank or edge, as of a river or pit; a verge; a border; as, the brink of a chasm. Also Fig. [Dan. brink edge, verge; akin to Sw. brink declivity, hill, Icel. brekka; cf. LG. brink a grassy hill, W. bryn hill, bryncyn hillock.]
- averse a.
- Turned away or backward. [L. aversus, p. p. of avertere. See Avert.]
- lust v. i.
- To list; to like. [AS. lystan. See Lust, n., and cf. List to choose.]
- womankind n.
- The females of the human race; women, collectively.
- genial a.
- Contributing to, or concerned in, propagation or production; generative; procreative; productive. [L. genialis: cf. OF. genial. See Genius.]
- phlegethon n.
- One of the principal rivers of Hades, in the channel of which fire flowed instead of water.
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Also Herrick, a Thanksgiving to God is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Hymns of Prudentius, Project Gutenberg ebook #14959; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Prudentius, Also Herrick, a Thanksgiving to God, in The Hymns of Prudentius (1905), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #14959, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/prudentius-hymns/also-herrick-a-thanksgiving-to-god.html, id L23692.
Form and metre
Also Herrick, a Thanksgiving to God is 29 lines in 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See 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 dineA · thineA
- 2 --AA hearth · mirth · drinkA · brinkA
- 3 AABBCC appetitesA · rightsA · mindB · womankindB · powersC · flowersC
- 5 AABCCB- earthA · birthA · hellB · keepC · sheepC · fellB · thee
- 6 A--A-- painA · ones · gather · againA · father · thrones
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "Lord, I confess too, when I dine, | 8 | ··˘/···· |
| The pulse is thine. | 4 | ···· |
| 'Tis thou that crown'st my glittering hearth | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| With guiltless mirth, | 4 | ·/˘· |
| And giv'st me wassail bowls to drink, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Spiced to the brink." | 4 | ···· |
| "But (what's more strange) their modest appetites, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Averse from Venus, fly the nuptial rights; | 10 | ˘/·/˘··/˘· |
| No lust enervates their heroic mind, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Nor wastes their strength on wanton womankind, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| But in their mouths reside their genial powers, | 10 | ····˘/·/˘/ |
| They gather children from the leaves and flowers." | 10 | ·/˘/˘····/ |
| "... fierce Phlegethon, | 4 | ·/˘˘ |
| Whose waves of torrent fire inflame with rage." | 10 | ···/˘/˘/·· |
| "Down Thou earnest, low as earth, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Bound to those of mortal birth; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Down Thou earnest, low as hell, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Where Shepherd-Death did tend and keep | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A thousand nations like to sheep, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| While weak with age old Hades fell | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Shivering through his dark to view Thee. | 8 | /˘······ |
| So, redeeming from their pain | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| Chains of disembodied ones, | 7 | ··˘˘/˘· |
| Thou didst lead whom thou didst gather | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Upward in ascent again, | 7 | /˘·˘/˘/ |
| With a great hymn to the Father, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Upward to the pure white thrones!" | 7 | /˘····· |
| For a modern treatment of the theme see Christ in Hades, by | 15 | ··/˘/˘······/˘· |
| Stephen Phillips. | 4 | /˘/˘ |
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