Herrick's Monometers: Upon His Departure Hence

(training in lyric poetry)
no copyright infringement intended

Meter in poetry is what brings the poem to life and is the internal beat or rhythm with which it is read.: so it is a rhythm of accented and unaccented syllables arranged into feet; the most common is one soft foot and one hard foot and is called an Iamb; there are several kinds of meter, but most poetry uses a five-beat meter, with Iambic feet, called iambic pentameter (source: What Is a Meter in Poetry?); well, Herrick remained known, among others, for the use of the monometer; here is his poem Upon His Departure Hence:

Thus I
Pass by,
And die :
As one
Unknown
And gone :
I'm made
A shade,
And laid
I' th' grave :
There have
My cave,
Where tell
I dwell.
Farewell.

(source: Luminarium)

Here is an Italian rendering (Alla sua dipartita):

Cosi io
Me ne vado
E muoio
Come uno
Sconosciuto
E partito:
Sono diventato
Un'ombra
E giaccio
Nella tomba:
Li ho
La mia dimora sotterranea
Laddove dicono
Che io abito,
Addio.

(source: Scuolabook)

A great comment at Caterpillar Diary.


(Robert Herrick)