Act the Second: Scene XVIII
SIGISMUND. That is true: then let's restrainThis wild rage, this fierce conditionOf the mind, this proud ambition,Should we ever dream again:And we'll do so, since 'tis plain,In this world's uncertain gleam,That to live is but to dream:Man dreams what he is, and wakesOnly when upon him breaksDeath's mysterious morning beam.The king dreams he is a king,And in this delusive wayLives and rules with sovereign sway;All the cheers that round him ring,Born of air, on air take wing.And in ashes (mournful fate!)Death dissolves his pride and state:Who would wish a crown to take,Seeing that he must awakeIn the dream beyond death's gate?And the rich man dreams of gold,Gilding cares it scarce conceals,And the poor man dreams he feelsWant and misery and cold.Dreams he too who rank would hold,Dreams who bears toil's rough-ribbed hands,Dreams who wrong for wrong demands,And in fine, throughout the earth,All men dream, whate'er their birth,And yet no one understands.'Tis a dream that I in sadnessHere am bound, the scorn of fate;'Twas a dream that once a stateI enjoyed of light and gladness.What is life? 'Tis but a madness.What is life? A thing that seems,A mirage that falsely gleams,Phantom joy, delusive rest,Since is life a dream at best,And even dreams themselves are dreams.
Words in this poem
- 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]
- sadness n.
- Heaviness; firmness.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act the Second: Scene XVIII 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 XVIII, 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-xviii.html, id L26583.
Form and metre
Act the Second: Scene XVIII is 40 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 80% of the lines. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, 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 AAAAABBCCBDEEDDFFGGFHIIHHJJKKJLMMLLNNOON restrainA · conditionA · ambitionA · againA · plainA · gleamB · dreamB · wakesC · breaksC · beamB · kingD · wayE · swayE · ringD · wingD · fateF · stateF · takeG · awakeG · gateF · goldH · concealsI · feelsI · coldH · holdH · handsJ · demandsJ · earthK · birthK · understandsJ · sadnessL · fateM · stateM · gladnessL · madnessL · seemsN · gleamsN · restO · bestO · dreamsN
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. That is true: then let's restrain | 10 | ········˘/ |
| This wild rage, this fierce condition | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Of the mind, this proud ambition, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Should we ever dream again: | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| And we'll do so, since 'tis plain, | 7 | ······· |
| In this world's uncertain gleam, | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| That to live is but to dream: | 7 | ······· |
| Man dreams what he is, and wakes | 7 | ······· |
| Only when upon him breaks | 7 | /˘····· |
| Death's mysterious morning beam. | 8 | ·˘/˘˘/˘· |
| The king dreams he is a king, | 7 | ······· |
| And in this delusive way | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Lives and rules with sovereign sway; | 7 | ····/˘· |
| All the cheers that round him ring, | 7 | ······· |
| Born of air, on air take wing. | 7 | ······· |
| And in ashes (mournful fate!) | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Death dissolves his pride and state: | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| Who would wish a crown to take, | 7 | ······· |
| Seeing that he must awake | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| In the dream beyond death's gate? | 7 | ······· |
| And the rich man dreams of gold, | 7 | ······· |
| Gilding cares it scarce conceals, | 7 | /˘···˘/ |
| And the poor man dreams he feels | 7 | ······· |
| Want and misery and cold. | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| Dreams he too who rank would hold, | 7 | ······· |
| Dreams who bears toil's rough-ribbed hands, | 8 | ······˘· |
| Dreams who wrong for wrong demands, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| And in fine, throughout the earth, | 7 | ······· |
| All men dream, whate'er their birth, | 8 | ···˘˘/·· |
| And yet no one understands. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| 'Tis a dream that I in sadness | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Here am bound, the scorn of fate; | 7 | ······· |
| 'Twas a dream that once a state | 7 | ······· |
| I enjoyed of light and gladness. | 8 | ·˘/···/˘ |
| What is life? 'Tis but a madness. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| What is life? A thing that seems, | 7 | ······· |
| A mirage that falsely gleams, | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| Phantom joy, delusive rest, | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| Since is life a dream at best, | 7 | ······· |
| And even dreams themselves are dreams. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
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