Analysis of Impossibilities: to his friend

Robert Herrick 1591 (London) – 1674 (Dean Prior)



My faithful friend, if you can see
The fruit to grow up, or the tree;
If you can see the colour come
Into the blushing pear or plum;
If you can see the water grow
To cakes of ice, or flakes of snow;
If you can see that drop of rain
Lost in the wild sea once again;
If you can see how dreams do creep
Into the brain by easy sleep:--
--Then there is hope that you may see
Her love me once, who now hates me.


Scheme AABBCCDEFFAA
Poetic Form
Metre 11011111 01111101 1111011 01010111 11110101 11111111 11111111 10011101 11111111 01011101 11111111 01111111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 402
Words 91
Sentences 2
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 12
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 304
Words per stanza (avg) 88
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

27 sec read
324

Robert Herrick

Robert Herrick was born in London, England, in 1591. He was apprenticed to a goldsmith (his uncle, Sir William), but went to Cambridge, at St John's, in 1613. He was ordained at Peterborough in 1623 and became chaplain to the Duke of Buckingham a few years later. "Hesperides" - a collection of 1200 lyrical poems - was published in 1648 and it remained his magnum opus. Herrick died in 1674, aged 83. more…

All Robert Herrick poems | Robert Herrick Books

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