the poem drags from excessive length, and the
reduction
of its
twenty-three stanzas to sixteen greatly improves it.
twenty-three stanzas to sixteen greatly improves it.
Robert Herrick
To the Maidens:]
"_And now y' have wept enough, depart; yon stars [the
Begin to pink, as weary that the wars
Know so long Treaties; beat the Drum
Aloft, and like two armies, come
And guild the field,
Fight bravely for the flame of mankind, yield
Not to this, or that assault,
For that would prove more Heresy than fault
In combatants to fly
'Fore this or that hath got the victory. _
22 [15].
"But since it must be done, despatch and sew
Up in a sheet your Bride, and what if so
It be with _rib of Rock and_ Brass,
_Yea_ tower her up, as Danae was, [ye
Think you that this,
Or Hell itself, a powerful Bulwark is?
I tell _you_ no; but like a [ye
Bold bolt of thunder he will make his way,
And rend the cloud, and throw
The sheet about, like flakes of snow.
23 [16].
"All now is hushed in silence: Midwife-moon
With all her Owl-ey'd issue begs a boon
Which you must grant; that's entrance with
Which extract, all we ? call pith
And quintessence
Of Planetary bodies; so commence,
All fair constellations
Looking upon _you_ that _the_ Nations
Springing from to such Fires
May blaze the virtue of their Sires. "
--R. HERRICK.
The variants in this version are not very important; one of the most
noteworthy, _round_ for _ground_, in stanza 5 [4], was overlooked by Dr.
Grosart in his collation. Of the seven stanzas subsequently omitted
several are of great beauty. There are few happier images in Herrick
than that of _Time throned in a saffron evening_ in stanza 11. It is
only when the earlier version is read as a whole that Herrick's taste
in omitting is vindicated. Each stanza is good in itself, but in the
MSS.
the poem drags from excessive length, and the reduction of its
twenty-three stanzas to sixteen greatly improves it.
286. _Ever full of pensive fear. _ Ovid, _Heroid. _ i. 12: Res est
solliciti plena timoris amor.
287. _Reverence to riches. _ Perhaps from Tacit. _Ann. _ ii. 33: Neque in
familia et argento quaeque ad usum parantur nimium aliquid aut modicum,
nisi ex fortuna possidentis.
288. _Who forms a godhead. _ From Martial, VIII. xxiv.
