Analysis of The funeral rites of the rose

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



The Rose was sick, and smiling died;
And, being to be sanctified,
About the bed, there sighing stood
The sweet and flowery sisterhood.
Some hung the head, while some did bring,
To wash her, water from the spring;
Some laid her forth, while others wept,
But all a solemn fast there kept.
The holy sisters some among,
The sacred dirge and trental sung;
But ah!  what sweets smelt everywhere,
As heaven had spent all perfumes there!
At last, when prayers for the dead,
And rites, were all accomplished,
They, weeping, spread a lawny loom,
And closed her up as in a tomb.


Scheme AABBCCDDEEFFGHII
Poetic Form
Metre 01110101 010111 01011101 010100100 11011111 11010101 11011101 11010111 01010101 0101011 1111110 110111011 1111101 0101010 1101011 01011001
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 560
Words 104
Sentences 6
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16
Lines Amount 16
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 439
Words per stanza (avg) 103
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

31 sec read
66

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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