Analysis of The mad maid'S song
Robert Herrick 1591 (London) – 1674 (Dean Prior)
Good morrow to the day so fair;
Good morning, sir, to you;
Good morrow to mine own torn hair,
Bedabbled with the dew.
Good morning to this primrose too;
Good morrow to each maid;
That will with flowers the tomb bestrew
Wherein my Love is laid.
Ah! woe is me, woe, woe is me,
Alack and well-a-day!
For pity, sir, find out that bee,
Which bore my Love away.
I'll seek him in your bonnet brave;
I'll seek him in your eyes;
Nay, now I think they've made his grave
I' th' bed of strawberries.
I'll seek him there; I know, ere this,
The cold, cold earth doth shake him;
But I will go, or send a kiss
By you, sir, to awake him.
Pray hurt him not; though he be dead,
He knows well who do love him;
And who with green turfs rear his head,
And who do rudely move him.
He's soft and tender, pray take heed,
With bands of cowslips bind him,
And bring him home;--but 'tis decreed
That I shall never find him.
Scheme | ABAB BCAC DEDE FXFX GHGH IHIH JHJH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (86%) |
Metre | 11010111 110111 11011111 1101 1101111 110111 11110011 011111 11111111 10101 11011111 111101 11101101 111011 11111111 1111110 11111111 0111111 11111101 1111011 11111111 1111111 01111111 0111011 11010111 111111 01111101 1111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 877 |
Words | 181 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 28 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 95 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 28, 2023
- 55 sec read
- 113 Views
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"The mad maid'S song" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/31397/the-mad-maid%27s-song>.
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