Analysis of Art above nature: to julia

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



When I behold a forest spread
With silken trees upon thy head;
And when I see that other dress
Of flowers set in comeliness;
When I behold another grace
In the ascent of curious lace,
Which, like a pinnacle, doth shew
The top, and the top-gallant too;
Then, when I see thy tresses bound
Into an oval, square, or round,
And knit in knots far more than I.
Can tell by tongue, or True-love tie;
Next, when those lawny films I see
Play with a wild civility;
And all those airy silks to flow,
Alluring me, and tempting so--
I must confess, mine eye and heart
Dotes less on nature than on art.


Scheme AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHII
Poetic Form
Metre 11010101 11010111 01111101 110101 11010101 000111001 11010011 01001101 11111101 01110111 01011111 11111111 1111111 11010100 01110111 01010101 11011101 11110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 578
Words 115
Sentences 3
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 18
Lines Amount 18
Letters per line (avg) 25
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 451
Words per stanza (avg) 113
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 29, 2023

34 sec read
82

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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