Life is the body'S light

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



Life is the body's light; which, once declining,
Those crimson clouds i' th' cheeks and lips leave shining:-
Those counter-changed tabbies in the air,
The sun once set, all of one colour are:
So, when death comes, fresh tinctures lose their place,
And dismal darkness then doth smutch the face.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

16 sec read
62

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABCDD
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 297
Words 53
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 6

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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