Analysis of A Hymn To Love

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



I will confess
With cheerfulness,
Love is a thing so likes me,
That, let her lay
On me all day,
I'll kiss the hand that strikes me.

I will not, I,
Now blubb'ring cry,
It, ah!  too late repents me
That I did fall
To love at all--
Since love so much contents me.

No, no, I'll be
In fetters free;
While others they sit wringing
Their hands for pain,
I'll entertain
The wounds of love with singing.

With flowers and wine,
And cakes divine,
To strike me I will tempt thee;
Which done, no more
I'll come before
Thee and thine altars empty.


Scheme AABCCB DDBEEB BBFGGF HHBIIB
Poetic Form
Metre 1101 11 1101111 1101 1111 1101111 1111 111 1111011 1111 1111 1111101 1111 0101 1101110 1111 101 0111110 11001 0101 1111111 1111 1101 1011010
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 518
Words 106
Sentences 6
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 6, 6, 6, 6
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 17
Words per line (avg) 4
Letters per stanza (avg) 100
Words per stanza (avg) 26
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
138

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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