Analysis of Upon Julia's Unlacing Herself

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



Tell, if thou canst, and truly, whence doth come
This camphire, storax, spikenard, galbanum,
These musks, these ambers, and those other smells
Sweet as the Vestry of the Oracles.
I'll tell thee:—while my Julia did unlace
Her silken bodice but a breathing space,
The passive air such odour then assumed
As when to Jove great Juno goes perfumed,
Whose pure immortal body doth transmit
A scent that fills both heaven and earth with it.


Scheme AABCBDEEFF
Poetic Form Tetractys  (20%)
Metre 1111010111 11111 1111001101 110110100 111111011 0101010101 010111101 1111110101 1101010101 01111100111
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 433
Words 77
Sentences 3
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 10
Lines Amount 10
Letters per line (avg) 34
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 343
Words per stanza (avg) 74
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

23 sec read
379

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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