• The Herrick makes use of alternating feminine and masculine end words. It is a verse form named for Robert Herrick (1591-1674) and patterned after his poem To the Virgins to Make Much Time.
The Herrick is:
○ stanzaic, a poem of 4 quatrains. (16 lines)
○ metered, alternating tetrameter and trimeter lines. Odd number lines are tetrameter ,even numbered lines are trimeter.
○ rhyme, rhyme scheme abab cdcd efef ghgh. Odd numbered lines are masculine rhyme, even numbered lines have feminine rhyme.
To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time by Robert Herrick (1st stanza)
Gather ye rose-buds while ye may:
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles to-day,
To-morrow will be dying.
The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun,
The higher he’s a-getting,
The sooner will his race be run,
And nearer he’s to setting.
That age is best which is the first,
When youth and blood are warmer ;
But being spent, the worse, and worst
Times still succeed the former.
Then be not coy, but use your time,
And while ye may go marry :
For having lost but once your prime
You may for ever tarry.
Pasted from http://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/index.php?showtopic=668
My thanks to Judi Van Gorder for years of work on this fine PMO resouce.
My Example poem
Are Caterpillars Cognizant?(The Herrick)
When caterpillars go to sleep
I wonder if they’re knowing
that while their sleep is very deep
their lovely wings are growing?
Is metamorphosis a shock
or is it all expected?
Do larvae young ones watch the clock
and know it’s all connected?
When they crochet that crusty shell
that doesn’t look delicious
and hide in sight so very well
are they themselves suspicious?
Like teenage girls that want a bust
anticipating greatly
do they awake with pride or just
think, “What has happened lately.”
© Lawrencealot, – July 27, 2014
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