Lyric Poem · Childhood
To Music, to Becalm a Sweet Sick Youth
Charms, that call down the moon from out her sphere,
On this sick youth work your enchantments here!
Bind up his senses with your numbers, so
As to entrance his pain, or cure his woe.
Fall gently, gently, and a-while him keep
Lost in the civil wilderness of sleep:
That done, then let him, dispossess'd of pain,
Like to a slumbering bride, awake again.
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“To Music, to Becalm a Sweet Sick Youth” by Robert Herrick — quilloak.com/poems/to-music-to-becalm-a-sweet-sick-youth
Quick facts
- Poem
- To Music, to Becalm a Sweet Sick Youth
- Poet
- Robert Herrick
- Length
- 8 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem, Short Poems
- Themes
- Childhood, Nature, Sad, 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
- 8 lines · one 8-line stanza
- Line length
- Mostly 10-syllable lines (pentameter length).
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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
- PoetryDBTo Music, to Becalm a Sweet Sick Youth 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 f7b0689435d5bee1…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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