A Rhyme for the Beginning of Lent
by Robert Herrick (1591-1674)
Is this a Fast, to keep the larder leane?
and cleane from fat of Veales and Sheep?
Is it to quit the dish of Flesh, yet still
to fill the platter high with fish?
Is it to fast an houre or rag’d go,
or show a down cast look, and sour?
No: ‘tis a fast, to dole thy sheaf of wheat
and meat unto the hungry soule.
It is to fast from strife, from old debate
and hate:
to circumcise thy life.
To shew a heart grief-rent; to starve thy sin,
not Bin
and that’s to keep thy Lent.
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2 comments:
Hmmm. Forsooth, must confess I'm at a loss as to what deane is. Is this a slur upon deans, academic or religious, saying they are largely made of fat?
I assume Bin refers back to 'larder.' Some ancient customs are involved of which I know not. Well, I at least know what Lent means, which may put me in the minority. Peculiar rhyme scheme, by the way.
I see deane used here, but the meaning is still murky:
"Be she fat, or be she leane,
Be she sluttish, be she deane..." --"Hesperides"
Fat. again, in conjunction with deane. Herrick evidently had it in for deans, though he seems to consider them non-sluttish. Or perhaps unworthy of being sluttish. Deponent saith not.
I did come across this:
"...THERE is no evill that we do commit,
But hath th' extraction of some good from it
As when we sin; God, the great Chymist, thence
Drawes out th' elixar of true penitence.
Deane shall remain a mystery. Some copies of the poem substitute 'clean,' which seems to make sense in both contexts, but I've known so many deans that were fatheads, I could easily be convinced that my first explanation is the correct one.
As a former "deane" in the sense ecclesiastical, I can't say but that "fathead" may not be too far off the mark etymologically, but I think your research showing the word "clean" used as a sometime substitute is correct. I recall a time or two seeing the substitution myself in some editions.
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