Analysis of To his verses

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



What will ye, my poor orphans, do,
When I must leave the world and you;
Who'll give ye then a sheltering shed,
Or credit ye, when I am dead?
Who'll let ye by their fire sit,
Although ye have a stock of wit,
Already coin'd to pay for it?
--I cannot tell:  unless there be
Some race of old humanity
Left, of the large heart and long hand,
Alive, as noble Westmorland;
Or gallant Newark; which brave two
May fost'ring fathers be to you.
If not, expect to be no less
Ill used, than babes left fatherless.


Scheme AABBCCCDDEAAAFG
Poetic Form Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 11111101 11110101 111101001 11011111 11111101 1110111 01011111 11010111 11110100 11011011 011101 11010111 1110111 11011111 11111100
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 494
Words 99
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 15
Lines Amount 15
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 377
Words per stanza (avg) 98
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

30 sec read
100

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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