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To daisies, not to shut so soon

Robert Herrick


Shut not so soon; the dull-eyed night
Has not as yet begun
To make a seizure on the light,
Or to seal up the sun.

No marigolds yet closed are,
No shadows great appear;
Nor doth the early shepherds' star
Shine like a spangle here.

Stay but till my Julia close
Her life-begetting eye;
And let the whole world then dispose
Itself to live or die.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 29, 2023

20 sec read
352

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABAB CXCX DEDE
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 339
Words 68
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4
Full analysis for To daisies, not to shut so soon »

Robert Herrick

 · 1591 · London
 · 1674 · Dean Prior

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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