Act the First: Scene VIII
CLOTALDO [aside]. Heaven has sent a happier fate;Since I need not now admit it,I'll not say he is my son.--Strangers who have wandered hither,You are free.
ROSAURA. I give your feetA thousand kisses.
CLARIN. I say misses,For a letter more or less'Twixt two friends is not considered.
ROSAURA. You have given me life, my lord,And since by your act I'm living,I eternally will own meAs your slave.
CLOTALDO. The life I've givenIs not really your true life,For a man by birth upliftedIf he suffers an affrontActually no longer liveth;And supposing you have come hereFor revenge as you have hinted,I have not then given you life,Since you have not brought it with you,For no life disgraced is life.--[Aside.] (This I say to arouse his spirit.)
ROSAURA. I confess I have it not,Though by you it has been given me;But revenge being wreaked, my honourI will leave so pure and limpid,All its perils overcome,That my life may then with fitnessSeem to be a gift of yours.
CLOTALDO. Take this burnished sword which hitherYou brought with you; for I know,To revenge you, 'tis sufficient,In your enemy's blood bathed red;For a sword that once was girdedRound me (I say this the whileThat to me it was committed),Will know how to right you.
ROSAURA. ThusIn your name once more I gird it,And on it my vengeance swear,Though the enemy who afflicts meWere more powerful.
CLOTALDO. Is he so?
ROSAURA. Yes; so powerful, I am hinderedSaying who he is, not doubtingEven for greater things your wisdomAnd calm prudence, but through fearLest against me your prized pityMight be turned.
CLOTALDO. 'Twill rather be,By declaring it, more kindled;Otherwise you bar the passage'Gainst your foe of my assistance.--[Aside.] (Would that I but knew his name!)
ROSAURA. Not to think I set so littleValue on such confidence,Know my enemy and my victimIs no less than Prince Astolfo,Duke of Muscovy.
CLOTALDO [aside]. ResistanceBadly can my grief supplySince 'tis heavier than I figured.Let us sift the matter deeper.--If a Muscovite by birth, thenHe who is your natural lordCould not 'gainst you have committedAny wrong; reseek your country,And abandon the wild impulseThat has driven you here.
ROSAURA. I know,Though a prince, he has committed'Gainst me a great wrong.
CLOTALDO. He could not,Even although your face was strickenBy his angry hand. [Aside.] (Oh, heavens!)
ROSAURA. Mine's a wrong more deep and bitter.
CLOTALDO. Tell it, then; it cannot beWorse than what my fancy pictures.
ROSAURA. I will tell it; though I know not,With the respect your presence gives me,With the affection you awaken,With the esteem your worth elicits,How with bold face here to tell youThat this outer dress is simplyAn enigma, since it is notWhat it seems. And from this hint, then,If I'm not what I appear,And Astolfo with this princessComes to wed, judge how by himI was wronged: I've said sufficient.
CLOTALDO. Listen! hear me! wait! oh, stay!What a labyrinthine thicketIs all this, where reason givesNot a thread whereby to issue?My own honour here is wronged,Powerful is my foe's position,I a vassal, she a woman;Heaven reveal some way in pity,Though I doubt it has the power;When in such confused abysses,Heaven is all one fearful presage,And the world itself a riddle.
Words in this poem
- eternally adv.
- In an eternal manner.
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- duke n.
- A leader; a chief; a prince. [F. duc, fr. L. dux, ducis, leader, commander, fr. ducere to lead; akin to AS. teón to draw; cf. AS. heretoga (here army) an army leader, general, G. herzog duke]
- reseek v. t.
- To seek again. J. Barlow.
- stricken p. p.
- Struck; smitten; wounded; as, the stricken deer.
- angry a.
- Troublesome; vexatious; rigorous. [See Anger.]
- princess n.
- A female prince; a woman having sovereign power, or the rank of a prince. [F. princesse. See Prince, and cf. Princesse.]
- labyrinthine a.
- Pertaining to, or like, a labyrinth; labyrinthal.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act the First: Scene VIII 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 VIII, 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-viii.html, id L26565.
Form and metre
Act the First: Scene VIII is 105 lines in 19 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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.
- 5 -A-----A-A- given · lifeA · uplifted · affront · liveth · here · hinted · lifeA · you · lifeA · spirit
- 7 ---AA-A- hither · know · sufficient · redA · girdedA · while · committedA · you
- 18 A-----A----- notA · me · awaken · elicits · you · simply · notA · then · appear · princess · him · sufficient
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 [aside]. Heaven has sent a happier fate; | 12 | ···˘//···/˘· |
| Since I need not now admit it, | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| I'll not say he is my son.-- | 7 | ······· |
| Strangers who have wandered hither, | 8 | /˘··/˘/˘ |
| You are free. | 3 | ··· |
| ROSAURA. I give your feet | 7 | ······· |
| A thousand kisses. | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| CLARIN. I say misses, | 6 | ····/˘ |
| For a letter more or less | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| 'Twixt two friends is not considered. | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| ROSAURA. You have given me life, my lord, | 10 | ·····/···· |
| And since by your act I'm living, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| I eternally will own me | 8 | ·˘/˘˘··· |
| As your slave. | 3 | ··· |
| CLOTALDO. The life I've given | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Is not really your true life, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| For a man by birth uplifted | 8 | ·····/˘˘ |
| If he suffers an affront | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| Actually no longer liveth; | 8 | /˘˘·/˘·· |
| And supposing you have come here | 8 | ·˘/˘···· |
| For revenge as you have hinted, | 8 | ·˘/···/˘ |
| I have not then given you life, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Since you have not brought it with you, | 8 | ········ |
| For no life disgraced is life.-- | 8 | ···˘/˘·· |
| [Aside.] (This I say to arouse his spirit.) | 10 | ˘/····˘/·/ |
| ROSAURA. I confess I have it not, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Though by you it has been given me; | 8 | ······/· |
| But revenge being wreaked, my honour | 9 | ·˘//˘··/˘ |
| I will leave so pure and limpid, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| All its perils overcome, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| That my life may then with fitness | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Seem to be a gift of yours. | 7 | ······· |
| CLOTALDO. Take this burnished sword which hither | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| You brought with you; for I know, | 7 | ······· |
| To revenge you, 'tis sufficient, | 8 | ·˘/··˘/˘ |
| In your enemy's blood bathed red; | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| For a sword that once was girded | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Round me (I say this the while | 7 | ······· |
| That to me it was committed), | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Will know how to right you. | 6 | ······ |
| ROSAURA. Thus | 4 | ···· |
| In your name once more I gird it, | 8 | ········ |
| And on it my vengeance swear, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Though the enemy who afflicts me | 8 | ··/˘·˘/· |
| Were more powerful. | 5 | ··/˘˘ |
| CLOTALDO. Is he so? | 6 | ······ |
| ROSAURA. Yes; so powerful, I am hindered | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Saying who he is, not doubting | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Even for greater things your wisdom | 9 | /˘·/˘··/˘ |
| And calm prudence, but through fear | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Lest against me your prized pity | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Might be turned. | 3 | ··· |
| CLOTALDO. 'Twill rather be, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| By declaring it, more kindled; | 8 | ·˘/˘··/˘ |
| Otherwise you bar the passage | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| 'Gainst your foe of my assistance.-- | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| [Aside.] (Would that I but knew his name!) | 9 | ˘/······· |
| ROSAURA. Not to think I set so little | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| Value on such confidence, | 7 | /˘··/˘˘ |
| Know my enemy and my victim | 9 | ··/˘˘··/˘ |
| Is no less than Prince Astolfo, | 8 | ········ |
| Duke of Muscovy. | 6 | ······ |
| CLOTALDO [aside]. Resistance | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| Badly can my grief supply | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| Since 'tis heavier than I figured. | 9 | ··/˘˘··/˘ |
| Let us sift the matter deeper.-- | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| If a Muscovite by birth, then | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| He who is your natural lord | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| Could not 'gainst you have committed | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Any wrong; reseek your country, | 8 | /˘·˘/·/˘ |
| And abandon the wild impulse | 8 | ·˘/˘··/˘ |
| That has driven you here. | 6 | ··/˘·· |
| ROSAURA. I know, | 5 | ····· |
| Though a prince, he has committed | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| 'Gainst me a great wrong. | 5 | ····· |
| CLOTALDO. He could not, | 6 | ······ |
| Even although your face was stricken | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| By his angry hand. [Aside.] (Oh, heavens!) | 10 | ··/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| ROSAURA. Mine's a wrong more deep and bitter. | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| CLOTALDO. Tell it, then; it cannot be | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Worse than what my fancy pictures. | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| ROSAURA. I will tell it; though I know not, | 11 | ··········· |
| With the respect your presence gives me, | 9 | ··˘/·/˘·· |
| With the affection you awaken, | 9 | ··˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| With the esteem your worth elicits, | 9 | ··˘/··˘/˘ |
| How with bold face here to tell you | 8 | ········ |
| That this outer dress is simply | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| An enigma, since it is not | 8 | ·˘/˘···· |
| What it seems. And from this hint, then, | 8 | ········ |
| If I'm not what I appear, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| And Astolfo with this princess | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Comes to wed, judge how by him | 7 | ······· |
| I was wronged: I've said sufficient. | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| CLOTALDO. Listen! hear me! wait! oh, stay! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| What a labyrinthine thicket | 8 | ···˘/·/˘ |
| Is all this, where reason gives | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Not a thread whereby to issue? | 8 | ······/˘ |
| My own honour here is wronged, | 8 | ··/˘···˘ |
| Powerful is my foe's position, | 9 | /˘˘···˘/˘ |
| I a vassal, she a woman; | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Heaven reveal some way in pity, | 9 | /˘˘/···/˘ |
| Though I doubt it has the power; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| When in such confused abysses, | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| Heaven is all one fearful presage, | 9 | /˘···/˘/˘ |
| And the world itself a riddle. | 8 | ···˘/·/˘ |
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