Act the Second: Scene IX
BASILIUS. Swords flashing here!--
ESTRELLA [aside]. Astolfo is engaged: -- Oh, pain severe!
BASILIUS. What caused this quarrel? Speak, say why?
ASTOLFO. 'Tis nothing now, my lord, since thou art by.
SIGISMUND. 'Tis much, although thou now art by, my lord.I wished to kill this old man with my sword.
BASILIUS. Did you not then respectThese snow-white hairs?
CLOTALDO. My lord will recollectThey scarce deserved it, being mine.
SIGISMUND. Who daresTo ask of me do I respect white hairs?Your own some dayMy feet may trample in the public way,For I have not as yet revenged my wrong,Your treatment so unjust and my sad state so long.
BASILIUS. But ere that dawn doth break,You must return to sleep, where when you wakeAll that hath happened here will seem --As is the glory of the world -- a dream.
Words in this poem
- recollect v. t.
- To recover or recall the knowledge of; to bring back to the mind or memory; to remember. [Pref. re- + collect: cf. L. recolligere, recollectum, to collect. Cf. Recollet.]
- 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]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act the Second: Scene IX 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 IX, 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-ix.html, id L26574.
Form and metre
Act the Second: Scene IX is 20 lines in 9 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 60% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 A hereA
- 2 A severeA
- 3 B whyB
- 4 B byB
- 5 CC lordC · swordC
- 6 DE respectD · hairsE
- 7 D- recollectD · mine
- 8 EEFFGG daresE · hairsE · dayF · wayF · wrongG · longG
- 9 HHII breakH · wakeH · seemI · dreamI
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 iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| BASILIUS. Swords flashing here!-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| ESTRELLA [aside]. Astolfo is engaged: -- Oh, pain severe! | 15 | ·/˘˘/····˘/··˘/ |
| BASILIUS. What caused this quarrel? Speak, say why? | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| ASTOLFO. 'Tis nothing now, my lord, since thou art by. | 13 | ····/˘······· |
| SIGISMUND. 'Tis much, although thou now art by, my lord. | 13 | ············· |
| I wished to kill this old man with my sword. | 10 | ·········· |
| BASILIUS. Did you not then respect | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| These snow-white hairs? | 4 | ···· |
| CLOTALDO. My lord will recollect | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| They scarce deserved it, being mine. | 8 | ··˘/·/˘· |
| SIGISMUND. Who dares | 5 | ····· |
| To ask of me do I respect white hairs? | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Your own some day | 4 | ···· |
| My feet may trample in the public way, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| For I have not as yet revenged my wrong, | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| Your treatment so unjust and my sad state so long. | 12 | ·/˘·˘/······ |
| BASILIUS. But ere that dawn doth break, | 9 | ········· |
| You must return to sleep, where when you wake | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| All that hath happened here will seem -- | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| As is the glory of the world -- a dream. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
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.