Analysis of The beggar to mab, the fairy queen

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



Please your Grace, from out your store
Give an alms to one that's poor,
That your mickle may have more.
Black I'm grown for want of meat,
Give me then an ant to eat,
Or the cleft ear of a mouse
Over-sour'd in drink of souce;
Or, sweet lady, reach to me
The abdomen of a bee;
Or commend a cricket's hip,
Or his huckson, to my scrip;
Give for bread, a little bit
Of a pease that 'gins to chit,
And my full thanks take for it.
Flour of fuz-balls, that's too good
For a man in needy-hood;
But the meal of mill-dust can
Well content a craving man;
Any orts the elves refuse
Well will serve the beggar's use.
But if this may seem too much
For an alms, then give me such
Little bits that nestle there
In the pris'ner's pannier.
So a blessing light upon
You, and mighty Oberon;
That your plenty last till when
I return your alms again.


Scheme ABACCDDEEFFGGGHHIIJKLLMNOOPP
Poetic Form
Metre 1111111 1111111 1110111 1111111 1111111 1011101 10100111 1110111 0010101 1010101 111111 1110101 1011111 0111111 10111111 1010101 1011111 1100101 1010101 111011 1111111 1111111 1011101 001100 1010101 101010 1110111 1011101
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 808
Words 166
Sentences 6
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 28
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 22
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 627
Words per stanza (avg) 164
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 09, 2023

52 sec read
139

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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