Act the Third: Scene II
FIRST SOLDIER [within]. He is here within this tower.Dash the door from off its hinges;Enter all
CLARIN: Good God! 'tis certainThat 'tis me they seek so briskly,Since they say that I am here.What can they require?
FIRST SOLDIER [within]. Go in there.
SECOND SOLDIER. Here he is.
CLARIN. He's not.
CLARIN [aside]. Are the fellows mad or tipsy?
FIRST SOLDIER. Thou art our own Prince, and weWill not have, and won't admit of,Any but our natural Prince;We no foreign Prince here wish for.Let us kneel and kiss thy feet.
THE SOLDIERS. Live, long live our best of Princes!
CLARIN [aside.] 'Gad! the affair grows rather serious.Is it usual in this kingdomTo take some one out each day,Make him Prince, and then remit himTo this tower? It must be so,Since each day that sight I witness.I must therefore play my part.
SOLDIERS. Thy feet give us!
CLARIN. I can't give them,As I want them for myself.For a prince to be a crippleWould be rather a defect.
SECOND SOLDIER. We have all conveyed our wishesTo your father; we have told himYou alone shall be our Prince here,Not the Duke.
CLARIN. And were you guilty'Gainst my sire, of disrespect?
FIRST SOLDIER. 'Twas the loyalty of our spirit.
CLARIN. If 'twas loyalty, I forgive you.
SECOND SOLDIER. Come, regain thy lost dominion.Long live Sigismund!
ALL. Live the Prince.
CLARIN [aside]. Say they Sigismund? Good. Admitted.Sigismund must be the nameGiven to all pretended princes.
Words in this poem
- kneel v. i.
- To bend the knee; to fall or rest on the knees; -- sometimes with down. [OE. knelen, cneolien; akin to D. knielen, Dan. knæle. See Knee.]
- remit v. t.
- To send back; to give up; to surrender; to resign. [L. remittere, remissum, to send back, to slacken, relax; pref. re- re- + mittere to send. See Mission, and cf. Remise, Remiss.]
- cripple n.
- One who creeps, halts, or limps; one who has lost, or never had, the use of a limb or limbs; a lame person; hence, one who is partially disabled. [OE. cripel, crepel, crupel, AS. crypel (akin to D. kreuple, G. kr, Dan. kr, Icel. kryppill), prop., one that can not walk, but must creep, fr. AS. cre to creep.]
- 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,]
- duke n.
- A leader; a chief; a prince. [F. duc, fr. L. dux, ducis, leader, commander, fr. ducere to lead; akin to AS. teón to draw; cf. AS. heretoga (here army) an army leader, general, G. herzog duke]
- sire n.
- A lord, master, or other person in authority. See Sir. [F. sire, originally, an older person. See Sir.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act the Third: Scene II 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 II, 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-ii.html, id L26585.
Form and metre
Act the Third: Scene II is 43 lines in 18 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%).
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.
- 9 -A-A--- serious · kingdomA · day · himA · so · witness · part
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 |
|---|---|---|
| FIRST SOLDIER [within]. He is here within this tower. | 12 | ·/˘········/ |
| Dash the door from off its hinges; | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Enter all | 3 | /˘· |
| CLARIN: Good God! 'tis certain | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| That 'tis me they seek so briskly, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Since they say that I am here. | 7 | ······· |
| What can they require? | 6 | ····/˘ |
| FIRST SOLDIER [within]. Go in there. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| SECOND SOLDIER. Here he is. | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| CLARIN. He's not. | 4 | ···· |
| CLARIN [aside]. Are the fellows mad or tipsy? | 12 | ··˘/··/˘··/˘ |
| FIRST SOLDIER. Thou art our own Prince, and we | 10 | ·/˘··/···· |
| Will not have, and won't admit of, | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| Any but our natural Prince; | 8 | /˘·//˘˘· |
| We no foreign Prince here wish for. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Let us kneel and kiss thy feet. | 7 | ······· |
| THE SOLDIERS. Live, long live our best of Princes! | 11 | ·/˘···/··/˘ |
| CLARIN [aside.] 'Gad! the affair grows rather serious. | 13 | ··˘/··˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Is it usual in this kingdom | 9 | ··/˘˘··/˘ |
| To take some one out each day, | 7 | ······· |
| Make him Prince, and then remit him | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| To this tower? It must be so, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Since each day that sight I witness. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| I must therefore play my part. | 7 | ······· |
| SOLDIERS. Thy feet give us! | 6 | /˘···· |
| CLARIN. I can't give them, | 6 | ······ |
| As I want them for myself. | 7 | ······/ |
| For a prince to be a cripple | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Would be rather a defect. | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| SECOND SOLDIER. We have all conveyed our wishes | 12 | /˘/˘···˘///˘ |
| To your father; we have told him | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| You alone shall be our Prince here, | 8 | ·˘/··/·· |
| Not the Duke. | 3 | ··· |
| CLARIN. And were you guilty | 7 | ·····/˘ |
| 'Gainst my sire, of disrespect? | 8 | ··/˘··˘/ |
| FIRST SOLDIER. 'Twas the loyalty of our spirit. | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·// |
| CLARIN. If 'twas loyalty, I forgive you. | 10 | ····/˘·˘/· |
| SECOND SOLDIER. Come, regain thy lost dominion. | 12 | /˘/˘·˘/··˘/˘ |
| Long live Sigismund! | 5 | ····· |
| ALL. Live the Prince. | 4 | ···· |
| CLARIN [aside]. Say they Sigismund? Good. Admitted. | 13 | ··˘/······˘/˘ |
| Sigismund must be the name | 7 | ······· |
| Given to all pretended princes. | 9 | /˘··˘/˘/˘ |
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