A hymn to the graces

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



When I love, as some have told
Love I shall, when I am old,
O ye Graces!  make me fit
For the welcoming of it!
Clean my rooms, as temples be,
To entertain that deity;
Give me words wherewith to woo,
Suppling and successful too;
Winning postures; and withal,
Manners each way musical;
Sweetness to allay my sour
And unsmooth behaviour:
For I know you have the skill
Vines to prune, though not to kill;
And of any wood ye see,
You can make a Mercury.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 25, 2023

26 sec read
355

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBCCDDEEFFEECC
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 441
Words 88
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 16

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…

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