Analysis of His covenant or protestation to julia

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



Why dost thou wound and break my heart,
As if we should for ever part?
Hast thou not heard an oath from me,
After a day, or two, or three,
I would come back and live with thee?
Take, if thou dost distrust that vow,
This second protestation now:--
Upon thy cheek that spangled tear,
Which sits as dew of roses there,
That tear shall scarce be dried before
I'll kiss the threshold of thy door;
Then weep not, Sweet, but thus much know,--
I'm half returned before I go.


Scheme AABBBCCDDEEFF
Poetic Form
Metre 11110111 11111101 11111111 10011111 11110111 11110111 110101 01111101 11111101 11111101 1101111 11111111 11010111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 462
Words 94
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 13
Lines Amount 13
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 354
Words per stanza (avg) 90
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

28 sec read
378

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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