Analysis of To groves

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



Ye silent shades, whose each tree here
Some relique of a saint doth wear;
Who for some sweet-heart's sake, did prove
The fire and martyrdom of Love:--
Here is the legend of those saints
That died for love, and their complaints;
Their wounded hearts, and names we find
Encarved upon the leaves and rind.
Give way, give way to me, who come
Scorch'd with the self-same martyrdom!
And have deserved as much, Love knows,
As to be canonized 'mongst those
Whose deeds and deaths here written are
Within your Greeny-kalendar.
--By all those virgins' fillets hung
Upon!  your boughs, and requiems sung
For saints and souls departed hence,
Here honour'd still with frankincense;
By all those tears that have been shed,
As a drink-offering to the dead;
By all those true-love knots, that be
With mottoes carved on every tree;
By sweet Saint Phillis!  pity me;
By dear Saint Iphis!  and the rest
Of all those other saints now blest,
Me, me forsaken,--here admit
Among your myrtles to be writ;
That my poor name may have the glory
To live remember'd in your story.


Scheme ABCDEEFFGGHHIAJJKKLLMMMNNOOMM
Poetic Form
Metre 11011111 1110111 11111111 010010011 11010111 11110101 11010111 1010101 11111111 11011100 01011111 1111011 11011101 01111 11110101 0111011 11010101 111110 11111111 101100101 11111111 11111001 11110101 1111001 11110111 11010101 01110111 111111010 110100110
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 1,031
Words 188
Sentences 8
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 29
Lines Amount 29
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 818
Words per stanza (avg) 187
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

57 sec read
38

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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