Act the Second: Scene XVII
BASILIUS. Hark, Clotaldo!
CLOTALDO. My lord here?Thus disguised, your majesty?
BASILIUS. Foolish curiosityLeads me in this lowly gearTo find out, ah, me! with fear,How the sudden change he bore.
CLOTALDO. There behold him as beforeIn his miserable state.
BASILIUS. Wretched Prince! unhappy fate!Birth by baneful stars watched o'er!--Go and wake him cautiously,Now that strength and force lie chainedBy the opiate he hath drained.
CLOTALDO. Muttering something restlessly,See he lies.
BASILIUS. Let's listen; heMay some few clear words repeat.
SIGISMUND.Perfect Prince is he whose heatSmites the tyrant where he stands,Yes, Clotaldo dies by my hands,Yes, my sire shall kiss my feet.
CLOTALDO. Death he threatens in his rage.
BASILIUS. Outrage vile he doth intend.
CLOTALDO. He my life has sworn to end.
BASILIUS. He has vowed to insult my age.
SIGISMUND [still sleeping]. On the mighty world's great stage,'Mid the admiring nations' cheer,Valour mine, that has no peer,Enter thou: the slave so shunnedNow shall reign Prince Sigismund,And his sire he wrath shall fear.--But, ah me! Where am I? Oh!--
BASILIUS. Me I must not let him see.Listening I close by will be,What you have to do you know.
SIGISMUND. Can it possibly be so?Is the truth not what it seemed?Am I chained and unredeemed?Art not thou my lifelong tome,Dark old tower? Yes! What a doom!God! what wondrous things I've dreamed!
CLOTALDO. Now in this delusive playMust my special part be taken:--Is it not full time to waken?
SIGISMUND. Yes, to waken well it may.
CLOTALDO. Wilt thou sleep the livelong day?--Since we gazing from belowSaw the eagle sailing slow,Soaring through the azure sphere,All the time thou waited here,Didst thou never waken?
SIGISMUND. No,Nor even now am I awakeSince such thoughts my memory fill,That it seems I'm dreaming still:Nor is this a great mistake;Since if dreams could phantoms makeThings of actual substance seen,I things seen may phantoms deem.Thus a double harvest reaping,I can see when I am sleeping,And when waking I can dream.
CLOTALDO. What you may have dreamed of, say.
SIGISMUND. If I thought it only seemed,I would tell not what I dreamed,But what I beheld, I may.I awoke, and lo! I lay(Cruel and delusive thing!)In a bed whose covering,Bright with blooms from rosy bowers,Seemed a tapestry of flowersWoven by the hand of Spring.Then a crowd of nobles came,Who addressed me by the nameOf their prince, presenting meGems and robes, on bended knee.Calm soon left me, and my frameThrilled with joy to hear thee tellOf the fate that me befell,For though now in this dark den,I was Prince of Poland then.
CLOTALDO. Doubtless you repaid me well?
SIGISMUND. No, not well: for, calling theeTraitor vile, in furious strifeTwice I strove to take thy life.
CLOTALDO. But why all this rage 'gainst me?
SIGISMUND. I was master, and would beWell revenged on foe and friend.Love one woman could defend . . . . .That, at least, for truth I deem,All else ended like a dream,THAT alone can never end.
CLOTALDO [aside]. From his place the King hath gone,Touched by his pathetic words:--Speaking of the king of birdsSoaring to ascend his throne,Thou didst fancy one thine own;But in dreams, however bright,Thou shouldst still have kept in sightHow for years I tended thee,For 'twere well, whoe'er we be,Even in dreams to do what's right.
Words in this poem 16
- curiosity n.
- The state or quality or being curious; nicety; accuracy; exactness; elaboration. [OE. curiouste, curiosite, OF. curioseté, curiosité, F. curiosit, fr. L. curiositas, fr. curiosus. See Currious, and cf. Curio.]
- baneful a.
- Having poisonous qualities; deadly; destructive; injurious; noxious; pernicious.
- opiate n.
- Originally, a medicine of a thicker consistence than sirup, prepared with opium. Parr. [From Opium: cf.F. opiat.]
- sire n.
- A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
- 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,]
- intend v. t.
- To stretch' to extend; to distend. [OE. entenden to be attentive, F. entendre, fr. L. intendre, intentum, and intensum, to intend, attend, stretch out, extend; pref. in- in + tendere to stretch, s]
- admiring a.
- Expressing admiration; as, an admiring glance.
- lifelong a.
- Lasting or continuing through life. [Life + long. Cf. Livelong.]
- wondrous adv.
- In a wonderful or surprising manner or degree; wonderfully. [OE. wonders, adv. (later also adj.). See Wonder, n., and cf. -wards.]
- waken v. i.
- To wake; to cease to sleep; to be awakened. [OE. waknen, AS. wæcnan; akin to Goth. gawaknan. See Wake, v. i.]
- livelong a.
- Whole; entire; long in passing; -- used of time, as day or night, in adverbial phrases, and usually with a sense of tediousness. [For lifelong. Cf. Lifelong.]
- didst
- , the 2d pers. sing. imp. of Do.
- deem v. t.
- To decide; to judge; to sentence; to condemn. [OE. demen to judge, condemn, AS. d, fr. d doom; akin to OFries. d, OS. ad, D. doemen, OHG. tuommen, Icel. dæma, Sw. dömma, Dan. dömme, Goth. d. See Doom, n., an]
- doubtless a.
- Free from fear or suspicion.
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- pathetic a.
- Expressing or showing anger; passionate. [L. patheticus, Gr. pathétique. See Pathos.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act the Second: Scene XVII 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 XVII, 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-xvii.html, id L26582.
Form and metre
Act the Second: Scene XVII is 104 lines in 26 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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.
- 2 A- hereA · majesty
- 3 -AAB curiosity · gearA · fearA · boreB
- 4 BC beforeB · stateC
- 5 C--DD fateC · o'er · cautiously · chainedD · drainedD
- 7 -E he · repeatE
- 8 -EFFE sigismund · heatE · standsF · handsF · feetE
- 9 G rageG
- 10 H intendH
- 11 H endH
- 12 G ageG
- 13 GII--IJ stageG · cheerI · peerI · shunned · sigismund · fearI · ohJ
- 14 KKJ seeK · beK · knowJ
- 15 JLL--L soJ · seemedL · unredeemedL · tome · doom · dreamedL
- 16 MNN playM · takenN · wakenN
- 17 M mayM
- 18 MOOPP- dayM · belowO · slowO · sphereP · hereP · waken
- 19 OQRRQQ-STTS noO · awakeQ · fillR · stillR · mistakeQ · makeQ · seen · deemS · reapingT · sleepingT · dreamS
- 20 U sayU
- 21 VVUUW-XXWYYZZYaabb seemedV · dreamedV · mayU · layU · thingW · covering · bowersX · flowersX · springW · cameY · nameY · meZ · kneeZ · frameY · tella · befella · denb · thenb
- 22 a wella
- 23 cdd theec · strifed · lifed
- 24 c mec
- 25 ceeffe bec · friende · defende · deemf · dreamf · ende
- 26 -gghhiijji gone · wordsg · birdsg · throneh · ownh · brighti · sighti · theej · bej · righti
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 |
|---|---|---|
| BASILIUS. Hark, Clotaldo! | 7 | ······· |
| CLOTALDO. My lord here? | 6 | ······ |
| Thus disguised, your majesty? | 8 | ·˘/˘·/˘˘ |
| BASILIUS. Foolish curiosity | 9 | ···/˘·˘/˘ |
| Leads me in this lowly gear | 7 | ····/˘· |
| To find out, ah, me! with fear, | 7 | ······· |
| How the sudden change he bore. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| CLOTALDO. There behold him as before | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| In his miserable state. | 7 | ··/˘˘˘· |
| BASILIUS. Wretched Prince! unhappy fate! | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Birth by baneful stars watched o'er!-- | 8 | ··/˘··˘· |
| Go and wake him cautiously, | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Now that strength and force lie chained | 8 | ·······˘ |
| By the opiate he hath drained. | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| CLOTALDO. Muttering something restlessly, | 9 | ···/˘/˘/˘ |
| See he lies. | 3 | ··· |
| BASILIUS. Let's listen; he | 7 | ····/˘· |
| May some few clear words repeat. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| SIGISMUND. | 3 | ··· |
| Perfect Prince is he whose heat | 7 | ˘/····· |
| Smites the tyrant where he stands, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Yes, Clotaldo dies by my hands, | 8 | ········ |
| Yes, my sire shall kiss my feet. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| CLOTALDO. Death he threatens in his rage. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| BASILIUS. Outrage vile he doth intend. | 10 | ···/····˘/ |
| CLOTALDO. He my life has sworn to end. | 10 | ·········· |
| BASILIUS. He has vowed to insult my age. | 11 | ·······˘/·· |
| SIGISMUND [still sleeping]. On the mighty world's great stage, | 13 | ····/˘··/˘··· |
| 'Mid the admiring nations' cheer, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| Valour mine, that has no peer, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Enter thou: the slave so shunned | 8 | /˘·····˘ |
| Now shall reign Prince Sigismund, | 7 | ······· |
| And his sire he wrath shall fear.-- | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| But, ah me! Where am I? Oh!-- | 7 | ······· |
| BASILIUS. Me I must not let him see. | 10 | ·········· |
| Listening I close by will be, | 8 | /˘˘····· |
| What you have to do you know. | 7 | ······· |
| SIGISMUND. Can it possibly be so? | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| Is the truth not what it seemed? | 8 | ·······˘ |
| Am I chained and unredeemed? | 8 | ···˘··˘/ |
| Art not thou my lifelong tome, | 7 | ····//· |
| Dark old tower? Yes! What a doom! | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| God! what wondrous things I've dreamed! | 8 | ··/˘···˘ |
| CLOTALDO. Now in this delusive play | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Must my special part be taken:-- | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Is it not full time to waken? | 8 | ······/˘ |
| SIGISMUND. Yes, to waken well it may. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| CLOTALDO. Wilt thou sleep the livelong day?-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Since we gazing from below | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Saw the eagle sailing slow, | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Soaring through the azure sphere, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| All the time thou waited here, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Didst thou never waken? | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| SIGISMUND. No, | 4 | ···· |
| Nor even now am I awake | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Since such thoughts my memory fill, | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| That it seems I'm dreaming still: | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Nor is this a great mistake; | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Since if dreams could phantoms make | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Things of actual substance seen, | 8 | ··/˘˘/˘· |
| I things seen may phantoms deem. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Thus a double harvest reaping, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| I can see when I am sleeping, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And when waking I can dream. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| CLOTALDO. What you may have dreamed of, say. | 10 | ·········· |
| SIGISMUND. If I thought it only seemed, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I would tell not what I dreamed, | 8 | ·······˘ |
| But what I beheld, I may. | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| I awoke, and lo! I lay | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| (Cruel and delusive thing!) | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| In a bed whose covering, | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Bright with blooms from rosy bowers, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Seemed a tapestry of flowers | 8 | ··/˘˘·/˘ |
| Woven by the hand of Spring. | 7 | /˘····· |
| Then a crowd of nobles came, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Who addressed me by the name | 8 | ·˘/˘···· |
| Of their prince, presenting me | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Gems and robes, on bended knee. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Calm soon left me, and my frame | 7 | ······· |
| Thrilled with joy to hear thee tell | 8 | ·˘······ |
| Of the fate that me befell, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| For though now in this dark den, | 7 | ······· |
| I was Prince of Poland then. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| CLOTALDO. Doubtless you repaid me well? | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| SIGISMUND. No, not well: for, calling thee | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Traitor vile, in furious strife | 8 | /˘··/˘˘· |
| Twice I strove to take thy life. | 7 | ······· |
| CLOTALDO. But why all this rage 'gainst me? | 10 | ·········· |
| SIGISMUND. I was master, and would be | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Well revenged on foe and friend. | 8 | ·˘/˘···· |
| Love one woman could defend . . . . . | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| That, at least, for truth I deem, | 7 | ······· |
| All else ended like a dream, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| THAT alone can never end. | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| CLOTALDO [aside]. From his place the King hath gone, | 12 | ···˘/······· |
| Touched by his pathetic words:-- | 8 | ·˘··˘/˘· |
| Speaking of the king of birds | 7 | /˘····· |
| Soaring to ascend his throne, | 7 | /˘·˘/·· |
| Thou didst fancy one thine own; | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| But in dreams, however bright, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Thou shouldst still have kept in sight | 7 | ······· |
| How for years I tended thee, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| For 'twere well, whoe'er we be, | 6 | ······ |
| Even in dreams to do what's right. | 8 | /˘······ |
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.