Proof to No Purpose
Robert Herrick 1591 (London) – 1674 (Dean Prior)
You see this gentle stream that glides,
Shoved on, by quick-succeeding tides:
Try if this sober stream you can
Follow to th' wider ocean,
And see, if there it keeps unspent
In that congesting element.
Next, from that world of waters, then
By pores and caverns back again
Induct that inadultrate same
Stream to the spring from whence it came.
This with a wonder when ye do,
As easy, and else easier too:
Then ye may recollect the grains
Of my particular remains,
After a thousand lusters hurled,
By roughing winds, around the world.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified by RobertHaigh on June 15, 2020
- 28 sec read
- 87 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AABCDEFFGGHHIIJJ |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 531 |
Words | 94 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 16 |
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"Proof to No Purpose" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 20 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/31357/proof-to-no-purpose>.
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