Analysis of The bag of the bee

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



About the sweet bag of a bee
Two Cupids fell at odds;
And whose the pretty prize should be
They vow'd to ask the Gods.

Which Venus hearing, thither came,
And for their boldness stript them;
And taking thence from each his flame,
With rods of myrtle whipt them.

Which done, to still their wanton cries,
When quiet grown she'd seen them,
She kiss'd and wiped their dove-like eyes,
And gave the bag between them.


Scheme ABAB CDCD EDED
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 01011101 110111 01010111 111101 1101011 0111011 01011111 1111011 11111101 1101111 11011111 0101011
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 406
Words 77
Sentences 4
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 27
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 106
Words per stanza (avg) 25
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 05, 2023

24 sec read
416

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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