Lyric Poem · Nature
Upon Mrs Eliz. Wheeler, Under the Name Ofamarillis
Sweet Amarillis, by a spring's
Soft and soul-melting murmurings,
Slept; and thus sleeping, thither flew
A Robin-red-breast; who at view,
Not seeing her at all to stir,
Brought leaves and moss to cover her:
But while he, perking, there did pry
About the arch of either eye,
The lid began to let out day, —
At which poor Robin flew away;
And seeing her not dead, but all disleaved,
He chirpt for joy, to see himself deceived.
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“Upon Mrs Eliz. Wheeler, Under the Name Ofamarillis” by Robert Herrick — quilloak.com/poems/upon-mrs-eliz-wheeler-under-the-name-ofamarillis
Quick facts
- Poem
- Upon Mrs Eliz. Wheeler, Under the Name Ofamarillis
- Poet
- Robert Herrick
- Length
- 12 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Nature, Spring, Death & Loss
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
- 12 lines · one 12-line stanza
- Line length
- Mostly 8-syllable lines (tetrameter 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
- PoetryDBUpon Mrs Eliz. Wheeler, Under the Name Ofamarillis 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 4912f8073ba6b245…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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