Jordan

George Herbert 1593 (Montgomery) – 1633 (Bemerton)



Who says that fictions only and false hair
Become a verse? Is there in truth no beauty?
Is all good structure in a winding stair?
May no lines pass, except they do their duty
Not to a true, but painted chair?

Is it no verse, except enchanted groves
And sudden arbours shadow coarse-spun lines?
Must purling streams refresh a lover's loves?
Must all be veiled, while he that reads divines,
Catching the sense at two removes?

Shepherds are honest people: let them sing:
Riddle who list, for me, and pull for prime:
I envy no man's nightingale or spring;
Nor let them punish me with loss of rhyme,
Who plainly say, My God, My King.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 29, 2023

35 sec read
66

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABABA CXXCX DEDED
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 622
Words 117
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5

George Herbert

The Very Reverend Honourable George Herbert was an Anglican priest. more…

All George Herbert poems | George Herbert Books

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