Analysis of When he would have his verses read

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



In sober mornings, do not thou rehearse
The holy incantation of a verse;
But when that men have both well drunk, and fed,
Let my enchantments then be sung or read.
When laurel spirts i' th' fire, and when the hearth
Smiles to itself, and gilds the roof with mirth;
When up the Thyrse is raised, and when the sound
Of sacred orgies, flies A round, A round;
When the rose reigns, and locks with ointments shine,
Let rigid Cato read these lines of mine.


Scheme AABBCDEEFF
Poetic Form Etheree  (20%)
Metre 0101011101 0100110101 1111111101 11111111 1101111100101 1101010111 1101110101 1101010101 101101111 1101011111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 449
Words 87
Sentences 3
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 10
Lines Amount 10
Letters per line (avg) 35
Words per line (avg) 9
Letters per stanza (avg) 349
Words per stanza (avg) 85
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

26 sec read
411

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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