All things decay and die

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



All things decay with time:  The forest sees
The growth and down-fall of her aged trees;
That timber tall, which three-score lustres stood
The proud dictator of the state-like wood,
I mean the sovereign of all plants, the oak,
Droops, dies, and falls without the cleaver's stroke.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

15 sec read
104

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBCC
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 283
Words 49
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 6

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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