Act the First: Scene VII
CLOTALDO. May I speak to you, sire?
BASILIUS. Clotaldo,You are always welcome with me.
CLOTALDO. Although coming to your feetShows how freely I'm admitted,Still, your majesty, this once,Fate as mournful as maliciousTakes from privilege its due right,And from custom its permission.
BASILIUS. What has happened?
CLOTALDO. A misfortune,Sire, which has my heart afflictedAt the moment when all joyShould have overflown and filled it.
BASILIUS. Pray proceed.
CLOTALDO. This handsome youth here,Inadvertently, or drivenBy his daring, pierced the tower,And the Prince discovered in it.Nay . . . .
BASILIUS. Clotaldo, be not troubledAt this act, which if committedAt another time had grieved me,But the secret so long hiddenHaving myself told, his knowledgeOf the fact but matters little.See me presently, for IMuch must speak upon this business,And for me you much must doFor a part will be committedTo you in the strangest dramaThat perhaps the world e'er witnessed.As for these, that you may knowThat I mean not your remissnessTo chastise, I grant their pardon.
CLOTALDO. Myriad years to my lord be given!
Words in this poem
- sire n.
- A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
- presently adv.
- At present; at this time; now.
- remissness n.
- Quality or state of being remiss.
- myriad n.
- The number of ten thousand; ten thousand persons or things. [Gr. myriade.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act the First: Scene VII is in the public domain. This text is taken from Life Is a Dream, Project Gutenberg ebook #6363, the Denis Florence MacCarthy translation; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Act the First: Scene VII, in Life Is a Dream (1873), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6363, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/calderon-life-is-a-dream/act-the-first-scene-vii.html, id L26564.
Form and metre
Act the First: Scene VII is 36 lines in 9 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
See other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 8 -AB---B--A----- troubled · committedA · meB · hidden · knowledge · little · iB · business · do · committedA · drama · witnessed · know · remissness · pardon
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| CLOTALDO. May I speak to you, sire? | 9 | ········/ |
| BASILIUS. Clotaldo, | 6 | ······ |
| You are always welcome with me. | 8 | ··/·/˘·· |
| CLOTALDO. Although coming to your feet | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Shows how freely I'm admitted, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Still, your majesty, this once, | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| Fate as mournful as malicious | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Takes from privilege its due right, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| And from custom its permission. | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| BASILIUS. What has happened? | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| CLOTALDO. A misfortune, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Sire, which has my heart afflicted | 9 | /˘····˘/˘ |
| At the moment when all joy | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Should have overflown and filled it. | 8 | ········ |
| BASILIUS. Pray proceed. | 6 | ····˘/ |
| CLOTALDO. This handsome youth here, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Inadvertently, or driven | 8 | ·˘/˘˘·/˘ |
| By his daring, pierced the tower, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| And the Prince discovered in it. | 8 | ···˘/˘·· |
| Nay . . . . | 1 | · |
| BASILIUS. Clotaldo, be not troubled | 10 | ········/˘ |
| At this act, which if committed | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| At another time had grieved me, | 8 | ·˘/˘···· |
| But the secret so long hidden | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Having myself told, his knowledge | 8 | /˘·/··/˘ |
| Of the fact but matters little. | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| See me presently, for I | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| Much must speak upon this business, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And for me you much must do | 7 | ······· |
| For a part will be committed | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| To you in the strangest drama | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| That perhaps the world e'er witnessed. | 8 | ·˘/···/˘ |
| As for these, that you may know | 7 | ······· |
| That I mean not your remissness | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| To chastise, I grant their pardon. | 8 | ·˘/···/˘ |
| CLOTALDO. Myriad years to my lord be given! | 11 | ···/˘·····/ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.