Life Is a Dream
Calderón's philosophical masterpiece about Prince Segismundo, in MacCarthy's complete line-for-line 1873 verse translation.
Measured across the book
Across its 3,428 lines, 95% of stressed syllables fall on the beat (95% interval 95% to 96%). Alliteration runs at 1.20 times what shuffling the words would give (0.24 observed against 0.20 expected). 51% of the lines have a feminine ending.
Baselines and intervals are described in the methods.
Contents
Act the First: Scene Iiambic pentameter · AABB · 79 linesAct the First: Scene IItrochaic tetrameter · AABB · 205 linesAct the First: Scene IIItrochaic tetrameter · 63 linesAct the First: Scene IVtrochaic tetrameter · 142 linesAct the First: Scene Vtrochaic tetrameter · 105 linesAct the First: Scene VItrochaic tetrameter · 281 linesAct the First: Scene VIItrochaic tetrameter · 36 linesAct the First: Scene VIIItrochaic tetrameter · 105 linesAct the Second: Scene Itrochaic tetrameter · 180 linesAct the Second: Scene IItrochaic tetrameter · 61 linesAct the Second: Scene IIItrochaic tetrameter · 126 linesAct the Second: Scene IVtrochaic tetrameter · 39 linesAct the Second: Scene Vtrochaic tetrameter · 68 linesAct the Second: Scene VIiambic tetrameter · 110 linesAct the Second: Scene VIItrochaic tetrameter · AABB · 71 linesAct the Second: Scene VIIIiambic pentameter · AABB · 96 linesAct the Second: Scene IXiambic pentameter · AABB · 20 linesAct the Second: Scene Xtrochaic tetrameter · 40 linesAct the Second: Scene XItrochaic tetrameter · 54 linesAct the Second: Scene XIItrochaic tetrameter · 69 linesAct the Second: Scene XIIItrochaic tetrameter · 73 linesAct the Second: Scene XIVtrochaic tetrameter · 44 linesAct the Second: Scene XVtrochaic tetrameter · 24 linesAct the Second: Scene XVItrochaic tetrameter · 32 linesAct the Second: Scene XVIItrochaic tetrameter · 104 linesAct the Second: Scene XVIIItrochaic tetrameter · AABB · 40 linesAct the Third: Scene Itrochaic tetrameter · 40 linesAct the Third: Scene IItrochaic tetrameter · 43 linesAct the Third: Scene IIItrochaic tetrameter · 122 linesAct the Third: Scene IVtrochaic tetrameter · 45 linesAct the Third: Scene Viambic pentameter · 32 linesAct the Third: Scene VIiambic pentameter · ABABABCCDEDEDEFF · 16 linesAct the Third: Scene VIIiambic pentameter · 16 linesAct the Third: Scene VIIItrochaic tetrameter · 178 linesAct the Third: Scene IXiambic pentameter · AABB · 35 linesAct the Third: Scene Xtrochaic tetrameter · 326 linesAct the Third: Scene XItrochaic tetrameter · 24 linesAct the Third: Scene XIItrochaic tetrameter · AABB · 16 linesAct the Third: Scene XIIItrochaic tetrameter · 77 linesAct the Third: Scene XIVtrochaic tetrameter · 191 lines
About this text
Public domain. Text from Life Is a Dream, Project Gutenberg ebook #6363. Free to read, print, copy and reuse.