Act the Second: Scene III
SIGISMUND. Help me, Heaven, what's this I see!Help me, Heaven, what's this I view!Things I scarce believe are true,But, if true, which fright not me.I in palaces of state?I 'neath silks and cloth of gold?I, around me, to beholdRich-robed servants watch and wait?I so soft a bed to pressWhile sweet sleep my senses bowed?I to wake in such a crowd,Who assist me even to dress?'Twere deceit to say I dream,Waking I recall my lot,I am Sigismund, am I not?Heaven make plain what dark doth seem!Tell me, what has phantasy --Wild, misleading, dream-adept --So effected while I slept,That I still the phantoms see?But let that be as it may,Why perplex myself and brood?Better taste the present good,Come what will some other day.
SECOND SERVANT. Who in such-like case would beLess surprised and sad than he?
CLARIN. I for one.
SECOND SERVANT [to the First]. You had best address him.
FIRST SERVANT [to SIGISMUND]. May they sing again?
SIGISMUND. No, no;I don't care to hear them sing.
SECOND SERVANT. I conceived the song might bringTo your thought some ease.
SIGISMUND. Not so;Voiced that but charm the earCannot soothe my sorrow's pain;'Tis the soldier's martial strainThat alone I love to hear.
CLOTALDO. May your Highness, mighty Prince,Deign to let me kiss your hand,I would first of all this landMy profound respect evince.
SIGISMUND [aside]. 'Tis my gaoler! how can heChange his harshness and neglectTo this language of respect?What can have occurred to me?
CLOTALDO. The new state in which I find youMust create a vague surprise,Doubts unnumbered must ariseTo bewilder and to blind you;I would make your prospect fair,Through the maze a path would show,Thus, my lord, 'tis right you knowThat you are the prince and heirOf this Polish realm: if lateYou lay hidden and concealed'Twas that we were forced to yieldTo the stern decrees of fate,Which strange ills, I know not how,Threatened on this land to bringShould the laurel of a kingEver crown thy princely brow.Still relying on the powerOf your will the stars to bind,For a man of resolute mindCan them bind how dark they lower;To this palace from your cellIn your life-long turret keepThey have borne you while dull sleepHeld your spirit in its spell.Soon to see you and embraceComes the King, your father, here --He will make the rest all clear.
SIGISMUND. Why, thou traitor vile and base,What need I to know the rest,Since it is enough to knowWho I am my power to show,And the pride that fills my breast?Why this treason brought to lightHas thou to thy country done,As to hide from the King's son,'Gainst all reason and all right,This his rank?
CLOTALDO. Oh, destiny!
SIGISMUND. Thou the traitor's part has played'Gainst the law; the King betrayed,And done cruel wrong to me;Thus for each distinct offenceHave the law, the King, and IThee condemned this day to dieBy my hands.
SECOND SERVANT. Prince . . . .
SIGISMUND No pretenceShall undo the debt I owe you.Catiff, hence! By Heaven! I say,If you dare to stop my wayFrom the window I will throw you.
SECOND SERVANT. Fly, Clotaldo!
CLOTALDO. Woe to thee,In thy pride so powerful seeming,Without knowing thou art dreaming!
SECOND SERVANT. Think . . . .
SIGISMUND. Away! don't trouble me.
SECOND SERVANT. He could not the King deny.
SIGISMUND. Bade to do a wrongful thingHe should have refused the King;And, besides, his prince was I.
SECOND SERVANT. 'Twas not his affair to tryIf the act was wrong or right.
SIGISMUND. You're indifferent, black or white,Since so pertly you reply.
CLARIN. What the Prince says is quite true,What you do is wrong, I say.
SECOND SERVANT. Who gave you this licence, pray?
CLARIN. No one gave; I took it.
SIGISMUND. WhoArt thou, speak?
CLARIN. A meddling fellow,Prating, prying, fond of scrapes,General of all jackanapes,And most merry when most mellow.
SIGISMUND. You alone in this new sphereHave amused me.
CLARIN. That's quite true, sir,For I am the great amuserOf all Sigismunds who are here.
Words in this poem 17
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
- voiced a.
- Furnished with a voice; expressed by the voice.
- soothe v. t.
- To assent to as true. Testament of Love. [Originally, to assent to as true; OE. so to verify, AS. ges to prove the truth of, to bear witness. See Sooth, a.]
- highness n.
- The state of being high; elevation; loftiness. [AS. heáhnes.]
- deign v. t.
- To esteem worthy; to consider worth notice; -- opposed to disdain. [OE. deinen, deignen, OF. degner, deigner, daigner, F. daigner, fr. L. dignari to deem worthy, deign, fr. dignus worthy; akin to decere to be fitting. See Decent]
- evince v. t.
- To conquer; to subdue. [L. evincere vanquish completely, prevail, succeed in proving; e out + vincere to vanquish. See Victor, and cf. Evict.]
- gaoler n.
- The keeper of a jail. See Jailer.
- unnumbered a.
- Not numbered; not counted or estimated; innumerable.
- maze n.
- A wild fancy; a confused notion. [OE. mase; cf. OE. masen to confuse, puzzle, Norweg. masast to fall into a slumber, masa to be continually busy, prate, chatter, Icel. masa to chatter, dial. Sw.]
- offence n.
- The act of offending in any sense; esp., a crime or a sin, an affront or an injury. [F., fr. L. offensa. See Offend.]
- pretence n.
- The act of laying claim; the claim laid; assumption; pretension. [LL. praetensus, for L. praetentus, p. p. of praetendere. See Pretend, and cf. Tension.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- pertly adv.
- In a pert manner.
- prying a.
- Inspecting closely or impertinently.
- jackanapes n.
- A monkey; an ape. [For Jack o' (= of) apes; prop., a man who exhibits apes.]
- amuser n.
- One who amuses.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act the Second: Scene III 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 Second: Scene III, in Life Is a Dream (1873), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6363, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/calderon-life-is-a-dream/act-the-second-scene-iii.html, id L26568.
Form and metre
Act the Second: Scene III is 126 lines in 31 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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.
- 1 ABBACDDCEFFEGHHG-IIJK--K seeA · viewB · trueB · meA · stateC · goldD · beholdD · waitC · pressE · bowedF · crowdF · dressE · dreamG · lotH · notH · seemG · phantasy · adeptI · sleptI · seeJ · mayK · brood · good · dayK
- 2 JJ beJ · heJ
- 6 LM noL · singM
- 7 M- bringM · ease
- 8 LNOON soL · earN · painO · strainO · hearN
- 9 PQQP princeP · handQ · landQ · evinceP
- 10 RSSR heR · neglectS · respectS · meR
- 11 -TT-UVVUWXXWYZZY-aa-bccbdee you · surpriseT · ariseT · you · fairU · showV · knowV · heirU · lateW · concealedX · yieldX · fateW · howY · bringZ · kingZ · browY · power · binda · minda · lower · cellb · keepc · sleepc · spellb · embraced · heree · cleare
- 12 dfggfhiih- based · restf · knowg · showg · breastf · lighth · donei · soni · righth · rank
- 14 jj--kk- playedj · betrayedj · me · offence · ik · diek · hands
- 16 --ll- pretence · you · sayl · wayl · you
- 18 mnn theem · seemingn · dreamingn
- 20 m mem
- 21 o denyo
- 22 ppo thingp · kingp · io
- 23 oq tryo · rightq
- 24 qo whiteq · replyo
- 25 rs truer · says
- 26 s prays
- 28 r- whor · speak
- 29 tuut fellowt · scrapesu · jackanapesu · mellowt
- 30 v- spherev · me
- 31 --v sir · amuser · herev
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 |
|---|---|---|
| SIGISMUND. Help me, Heaven, what's this I see! | 10 | ·····/···· |
| Help me, Heaven, what's this I view! | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Things I scarce believe are true, | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| But, if true, which fright not me. | 7 | ······· |
| I in palaces of state? | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| I 'neath silks and cloth of gold? | 7 | ······· |
| I, around me, to behold | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Rich-robed servants watch and wait? | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| I so soft a bed to press | 7 | ······· |
| While sweet sleep my senses bowed? | 8 | ····/˘·˘ |
| I to wake in such a crowd, | 7 | ······· |
| Who assist me even to dress? | 8 | ·˘/·/˘·· |
| 'Twere deceit to say I dream, | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Waking I recall my lot, | 7 | /˘·˘/·· |
| I am Sigismund, am I not? | 8 | ········ |
| Heaven make plain what dark doth seem! | 8 | /˘······ |
| Tell me, what has phantasy -- | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Wild, misleading, dream-adept -- | 7 | ·˘/˘·˘/ |
| So effected while I slept, | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| That I still the phantoms see? | 7 | ····/˘· |
| But let that be as it may, | 7 | ······· |
| Why perplex myself and brood? | 7 | ·˘/·/·· |
| Better taste the present good, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Come what will some other day. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| SECOND SERVANT. Who in such-like case would be | 11 | /˘/˘······· |
| Less surprised and sad than he? | 8 | ·˘/˘···· |
| CLARIN. I for one. | 5 | ····· |
| SECOND SERVANT [to the First]. You had best address him. | 13 | /˘/˘······/·· |
| FIRST SERVANT [to SIGISMUND]. May they sing again? | 12 | ·/˘·······˘/ |
| SIGISMUND. No, no; | 5 | ····· |
| I don't care to hear them sing. | 7 | ······· |
| SECOND SERVANT. I conceived the song might bring | 11 | /˘/˘·˘/···· |
| To your thought some ease. | 5 | ····· |
| SIGISMUND. Not so; | 5 | ····· |
| Voiced that but charm the ear | 7 | ·˘····· |
| Cannot soothe my sorrow's pain; | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| 'Tis the soldier's martial strain | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| That alone I love to hear. | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| CLOTALDO. May your Highness, mighty Prince, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Deign to let me kiss your hand, | 7 | ······· |
| I would first of all this land | 7 | ······· |
| My profound respect evince. | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘/ |
| SIGISMUND [aside]. 'Tis my gaoler! how can he | 12 | ···˘/··/˘··· |
| Change his harshness and neglect | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| To this language of respect? | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| What can have occurred to me? | 8 | ···˘/˘·· |
| CLOTALDO. The new state in which I find you | 11 | ··········· |
| Must create a vague surprise, | 7 | ·˘/··˘/ |
| Doubts unnumbered must arise | 8 | ·˘/˘˘·˘/ |
| To bewilder and to blind you; | 8 | ·˘/˘···· |
| I would make your prospect fair, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Through the maze a path would show, | 7 | ······· |
| Thus, my lord, 'tis right you know | 7 | ······· |
| That you are the prince and heir | 7 | ······· |
| Of this Polish realm: if late | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| You lay hidden and concealed | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| 'Twas that we were forced to yield | 8 | ·····˘·· |
| To the stern decrees of fate, | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Which strange ills, I know not how, | 7 | ······· |
| Threatened on this land to bring | 8 | /˘˘····· |
| Should the laurel of a king | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Ever crown thy princely brow. | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Still relying on the power | 8 | ·˘/˘··/˘ |
| Of your will the stars to bind, | 7 | ······· |
| For a man of resolute mind | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Can them bind how dark they lower; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| To this palace from your cell | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| In your life-long turret keep | 7 | ····/˘· |
| They have borne you while dull sleep | 7 | ······· |
| Held your spirit in its spell. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Soon to see you and embrace | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Comes the King, your father, here -- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| He will make the rest all clear. | 7 | ······· |
| SIGISMUND. Why, thou traitor vile and base, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| What need I to know the rest, | 7 | ······· |
| Since it is enough to know | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Who I am my power to show, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| And the pride that fills my breast? | 7 | ······· |
| Why this treason brought to light | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Has thou to thy country done, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| As to hide from the King's son, | 7 | ······· |
| 'Gainst all reason and all right, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| This his rank? | 3 | ··· |
| CLOTALDO. Oh, destiny! | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| SIGISMUND. Thou the traitor's part has played | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| 'Gainst the law; the King betrayed, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| And done cruel wrong to me; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Thus for each distinct offence | 7 | ···˘/˘/ |
| Have the law, the King, and I | 7 | ······· |
| Thee condemned this day to die | 8 | ·˘/˘···· |
| By my hands. | 3 | ··· |
| SECOND SERVANT. Prince . . . . | 5 | /˘/˘· |
| SIGISMUND No pretence | 6 | ······ |
| Shall undo the debt I owe you. | 8 | ·˘/····· |
| Catiff, hence! By Heaven! I say, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| If you dare to stop my way | 7 | ······· |
| From the window I will throw you. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| SECOND SERVANT. Fly, Clotaldo! | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| CLOTALDO. Woe to thee, | 6 | ······ |
| In thy pride so powerful seeming, | 9 | ····/˘˘/˘ |
| Without knowing thou art dreaming! | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| SECOND SERVANT. Think . . . . | 5 | /˘/˘· |
| SIGISMUND. Away! don't trouble me. | 9 | ···˘/·/˘· |
| SECOND SERVANT. He could not the King deny. | 11 | /˘/˘·····˘/ |
| SIGISMUND. Bade to do a wrongful thing | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| He should have refused the King; | 8 | ···˘/˘·· |
| And, besides, his prince was I. | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| SECOND SERVANT. 'Twas not his affair to try | 11 | /˘/˘···˘/·· |
| If the act was wrong or right. | 7 | ······· |
| SIGISMUND. You're indifferent, black or white, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Since so pertly you reply. | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| CLARIN. What the Prince says is quite true, | 9 | ········· |
| What you do is wrong, I say. | 7 | ······· |
| SECOND SERVANT. Who gave you this licence, pray? | 11 | /˘/˘····/˘· |
| CLARIN. No one gave; I took it. | 8 | ········ |
| SIGISMUND. Who | 4 | ···· |
| Art thou, speak? | 3 | ··· |
| CLARIN. A meddling fellow, | 8 | ···/˘˘/˘ |
| Prating, prying, fond of scrapes, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| General of all jackanapes, | 8 | /˘˘··/˘˘ |
| And most merry when most mellow. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| SIGISMUND. You alone in this new sphere | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Have amused me. | 4 | ·˘/· |
| CLARIN. That's quite true, sir, | 6 | ······ |
| For I am the great amuser | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Of all Sigismunds who are here. | 8 | ········ |
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