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Lyric Poem · Nature

The Parliament of Roses to Julia

by Robert Herrick

1I dreamt the Roses one time went

2To meet and sit in Parliament;

3The place for these, and for the rest

4Of flowers, was thy spotless breast.

5Over the which a state was drawn

6Of tiffany, or cob-web lawn;

7Then in that Parly all those powers

8Voted the Rose the Queen of flowers;

9But so, as that herself should be

10The Maid of Honour unto thee.

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Quick facts

Poem
The Parliament of Roses to Julia
Poet
Robert Herrick
Length
10 lines
Form
Lyric Poem
Themes
Nature, Short

Craft notes

How this poem works

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
10 lines · one 10-line stanza
Line length
Mostly 8-syllable lines (tetrameter length).
The poem’s silhouette — approximate syllables per line, measured from the text above. Even bars mean a measured line; ragged bars mean the poem sets its own widths.

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Text, source & rights

A traceable edition

Full-text display is based on the committed source record and a United States term-expiry review.

Author record
Robert Herrick1591–1674
Source record
PoetryDBThe Parliament of Roses to Julia 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 9905f7ddbc682462
Editorial handling
Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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