Act the Third: Scene I
CLARIN. In a strange enchanted tower,I, for what I know, am prisoned;How would ignorance be punished,If for knowledge they would kill me?What a thing to die of hunger,For a man who loves good living!I compassionate myself;All will say: "I well believe it";And it well may be believed,Because silence is a virtueIncompatible with my nameClarin, which of course forbids it.In this place my sole companions,It may safely be predicted,Are the spiders and the mice:What a pleasant nest of linnets!--Owing to this last night's dream,My poor head I feel quite dizzyFrom a thousand clarionets,Shawms, and seraphines and cymbals,Crucifixes and processions,Flagellants who so well whipped them,That as up and down they went,Some even fainted as they witnessedHow the blood ran down the others.I, if I the truth may whisper,Simply fainted from not eating,For I see me in this prisonAll day wondering how this PolandSuch a 'Hungary' look exhibits,All night reading in the 'Fasti'By some half-starved poet written.In the calendar of saints,If a new one is admitted,Then St. Secret be my patron,For I fast upon his vigil;Though it must be owned I sufferJustly for the fault committed,Since a servant to be silentIs a sacrilege most sinful.
Words in this poem
- enchanted a.
- Under the power of enchantment; possessed or exercised by enchanters; as, an enchanted castle.
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- vigil n.
- Abstinence from sleep, whether at a time when sleep is customary or not; the act of keeping awake, or the state of being awake, or the state of being awake; sleeplessness; wakefulness; watch. [OE. vigile, L. vigilia, from vigil awake, watchful, probably akin to E. wake: cf. F. vigile. See Wake, v. i., and cf. Reveille, Surveillance, Vedette, Vegetable]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act the Third: Scene I 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 Third: Scene I, in Life Is a Dream (1873), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6363, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/calderon-life-is-a-dream/act-the-third-scene-i.html, id L26584.
Form and metre
Act the Third: Scene I is 40 lines in a single stanza. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 ---------------A--A--------------B---B-- tower · prisoned · punished · me · hunger · living · myself · it · believed · virtue · name · it · companions · predicted · mice · linnetsA · dream · dizzy · clarionetsA · cymbals · processions · them · went · witnessed · others · whisper · eating · prison · poland · exhibits · fasti · written · saints · admittedB · patron · vigil · suffer · committedB · silent · sinful
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 |
|---|---|---|
| CLARIN. In a strange enchanted tower, | 9 | ·····˘/˘/ |
| I, for what I know, am prisoned; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| How would ignorance be punished, | 8 | ··/˘˘·/˘ |
| If for knowledge they would kill me? | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| What a thing to die of hunger, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| For a man who loves good living! | 8 | ······/˘ |
| I compassionate myself; | 7 | ·˘/˘˘·/ |
| All will say: "I well believe it"; | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| And it well may be believed, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Because silence is a virtue | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Incompatible with my name | 8 | ˘˘/˘˘··· |
| Clarin, which of course forbids it. | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| In this place my sole companions, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| It may safely be predicted, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Are the spiders and the mice: | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| What a pleasant nest of linnets!-- | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Owing to this last night's dream, | 7 | /˘····· |
| My poor head I feel quite dizzy | 8 | ······/˘ |
| From a thousand clarionets, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Shawms, and seraphines and cymbals, | 9 | ··˘˘/˘·/˘ |
| Crucifixes and processions, | 8 | /˘·˘·˘/˘ |
| Flagellants who so well whipped them, | 8 | ········ |
| That as up and down they went, | 7 | ······· |
| Some even fainted as they witnessed | 9 | ·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| How the blood ran down the others. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| I, if I the truth may whisper, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Simply fainted from not eating, | 8 | /˘/˘··/˘ |
| For I see me in this prison | 8 | ······/˘ |
| All day wondering how this Poland | 9 | ··/˘˘··/˘ |
| Such a 'Hungary' look exhibits, | 9 | ··/˘˘·˘/˘ |
| All night reading in the 'Fasti' | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| By some half-starved poet written. | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| In the calendar of saints, | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| If a new one is admitted, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Then St. Secret be my patron, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| For I fast upon his vigil; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Though it must be owned I suffer | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Justly for the fault committed, | 8 | /˘···˘/˘ |
| Since a servant to be silent | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Is a sacrilege most sinful. | 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.