Analysis of Tears and laughter

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

Knew'st thou one month would take thy life away,
Thou'dst weep; but laugh, should it not last a day.

Scheme AA
Poetic Form Couplet 
Metre 11111111101 1111111101
Closest metre Iambic hexameter
Characters 107
Words 21
Sentences 2
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 2
Lines Amount 2
Letters per line (avg) 38
Words per line (avg) 10
Letters per stanza (avg) 76
Words per stanza (avg) 19
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 16, 2023

6 sec read
91

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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