Lyric Poem · Death & Loss
Upon the Loss of His Mistresses
1I have lost, and lately, these
2Many dainty mistresses: —
3Stately Julia, prime of all;
4Sapho next, a principal:
5Smooth Anthea, for a skin
6White, and heaven-like crystalline:
7Sweet Electra, and the choice
8Myrha, for the lute and voice.
9Next, Corinna, for her wit,
10And the graceful use of it;
11With Perilla: — All are gone;
12Only Herrick's left alone,
13For to number sorrow by
14Their departures hence, and die.
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“Upon the Loss of His Mistresses” by Robert Herrick — quilloak.com/poems/upon-the-loss-of-his-mistresses
Quick facts
- Poem
- Upon the Loss of His Mistresses
- Poet
- Robert Herrick
- Length
- 14 lines
- Form
- Lyric Poem
- Themes
- Death & Loss, Sad, Peace
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
- 14 lines · one 14-line stanza
- Line length
- Mostly 7-syllable lines.
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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 the Loss of His Mistresses 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 a0c33e55247f18d0…
- Editorial handling
- Whitespace and stanza breaks normalized for web display; no material wording change recorded.
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