Analysis of Oberon's Feast
Robert Herrick 1591 (London) – 1674 (Dean Prior)
Hapcot! To thee the Fairy State
I with discretion, dedicate.
Because thou prizest things that are
Curious, and un-familiar.
Take first the feast; these dishes gone,
We'll see the Fairy Court anon.
A little mushroon table spread,
After short prayers, they set on bread;
A moon-parched grain of purest wheat,
With some small glit'ring grit, to eat
His choice bits with; then in a trice
They make a feast less great than nice.
But all this while his eye is serv'd,
We must not think his ear was sterv'd:
But that there was in place to stir
His spleen, the chirring grasshopper,
The merry cricket, the puling fly,
The piping gnat for minstralcy.
And now, we must imagine first,
The elves present to quench his thirst
A pure seed-pearl of infant dew,
Brought and besweetened in a blue
And pregnant violet; which done
His kitling eyes begin to run
Quite through the table, where he spies
The horns of papery butterflies,
Of which he eats, and tastes a little
Of that we call the "cuckoo's spittle."
A little fuzz-ball-pudding stands
By, yet not blessed by his hands,
That was too coarse; but then forthwith
He ventures boldly on the pith
Of sugar'd rush, and eats the sag
And well bestrutted bee's sweet bag;
Gladding his palate with some store
Of emit's eggs; what would he more?
But beards of mice, a newt's stew'd thigh,
A bloated earwig, and a fly,
With the red-capp'd worm that's shut
Within the concave of a nut,
Brown as his tooth. a little moth
Late fatten'd in a piece of cloth;
With wither'd cherries, mandrake's ears,
Mole's eyes; to these, the slain stag's tears,
The unctuous dewlaps of a snail,
The broke-heart of a nightingale
O'er-come in music; with a wine,
Ne'er ravish'd from the flattering vine,
But gently press'd from the soft side
Of the most sweet and dainty bride,
Brought in a dainty daisy, which
He fully quaffs up to bewitch
His blood to height; this done, commended
Grace by his priest, the feast is ended.
Scheme | AABCDDEEFFGGHACCIGJJKKLLMMNNOOPPQQRRIISSTTUVWWXXYYZZ1 2 |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1110101 1101010 0111111 10001010 11011101 1101011 0101101 10111111 01111101 1111111 11111001 11011111 11111111 11111111 11110111 110110 01010011 010111 01110101 01101111 01111101 101001 01010011 1110111 11010111 01110010 111101010 111101010 01011101 1111111 11111111 11010101 11010101 011111 10110111 1111111 11110111 0101001 1011111 01001101 11110101 11000111 1101011 11110111 0101101 01110100 101010101 11101001 11011011 10110101 10010101 11011101 111111010 111101110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,933 |
Words | 346 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 54 |
Lines Amount | 54 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,497 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 343 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:49 min read
- 49 Views
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"Oberon's Feast" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/31346/oberon%27s-feast>.
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