An ode of the birth of our saviour
Robert Herrick 1591 (London) – 1674 (Dean Prior)
In numbers, and but these few,
I sing thy birth, oh JESU!
Thou pretty Baby, born here,
With sup'rabundant scorn here;
Who for thy princely port here,
Hadst for thy place
Of birth, a base
Out-stable for thy court here.
Instead of neat enclosures
Of interwoven osiers;
Instead of fragrant posies
Of daffadils and roses,
Thy cradle, kingly stranger,
As gospel tells,
Was nothing else,
But, here, a homely manger.
But we with silks, not cruels,
With sundry precious jewels,
And lily-work will dress thee;
And as we dispossess thee
Of clo}ts, we'll make a chamber,
Sweet babe, for thee,
Of ivory,
And plaster'd round with amber.
The Jews, they did disdain thee;
But we will entertain thee
With glories to await here,
Upon thy princely state here,
And more for love than pity:
From year to year
We'll make thee, here,
A free-born of our city.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 45 sec read
- 38 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | XABBBAAB AAAACAAC AADDCDDC DDBBDXBD |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 813 |
Words | 149 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8 |
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"An ode of the birth of our saviour" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/31267/an-ode-of-the-birth-of-our-saviour>.
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