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Lyric Poem · Love

A Dialogue Betwixt Himself and Mistress Elizawheeler, Under the Name of Amarillis

by Robert Herrick

1My dearest Love, since thou wilt go,

2And leave me here behind thee;

3For love or pity, let me know

4The place where I may find thee.

5AMARIL. In country meadows, pearl'd with dew,

6And set about with lilies;

7There, filling maunds with cowslips, you

8May find your Amarillis.

9HER. What have the meads to do with thee,

10Or with thy youthful hours?

11Live thou at court, where thou mayst be

12The queen of men, not flowers.

13Let country wenches make 'em fine

14With posies, since 'tis fitter

15For thee with richest gems to shine,

16And like the stars to glitter.

17AMARIL. You set too-high a rate upon

18A shepherdess so homely.

19HER. Believe it, dearest, there's not one

20I' th' court that's half so comely.

21I prithee stay. AMARIL. I must away;

22Let's kiss first, then we'll sever;

23AMBO And though we bid adieu to day,

24We shall not part for ever.

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Quick facts

Poem
A Dialogue Betwixt Himself and Mistress Elizawheeler, Under the Name of Amarillis
Poet
Robert Herrick
Length
24 lines
Form
Lyric Poem
Themes
Love, Nature

Craft notes

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Measured from the text on this page, not copied from a summary. Counts are approximate: syllables and rhymes come from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary, which models General American English, so dialect, older pronunciation, and performance can all change what you hear.

Shape
24 lines · 6 quatrains
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Text, source & rights

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Author record
Robert Herrick1591–1674
Source record
PoetryDBA Dialogue Betwixt Himself and Mistress Elizawheeler, Under the Name of Amarillis by robert-herrick, PoetryDB transcription
Display decision
Full text · United States · reviewed 2026-07-18
Publication record
Not recorded in the imported source
Text fingerprint
SHA-256 6247647263a15a7b
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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