Act the First: Scene IV
LELIUS. Further let us not proceed;For these rocks, these boughs so thicklyInterwoven, that the sunCannot even find admittance,Shall be the sole witnessesOf our duel.
FLORUS. Then, this instantDraw your sword; for here are deeds,If in words elsewhere we've striven.
LELIUS. Yes, I know that in the field,While the tongue is mute, the glitterOf the sword speaks thus.
CYPRIAN. What's this?Hold, good Florus! Lelius, listen!--Here until your rage is calmed,Even unarmed I stand betwixt ye.
LELIUS. Thus to interrupt my vengeance,Whence, O Cyprian, have you risenLike a spectre?
FLORUS. A wild wood-god,Have you from these tree-trunks issued?
Words in this poem
- admittance n.
- The act of admitting.
- 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,]
- cyprian a.
- Belonging to Cyprus.
- unarmed a.
- Not armed or armored; having no arms or weapons. [Pref. un- not + armed.]
- betwixt prep.
- In the space which separates; between. [OE. betwix, bitwix, rarely bitwixt, AS. betweox, betweohs, betweoh, betwih; pref. be- by + a form fr. AS. twa two. See Between.]
- spectre n.
- Something preternaturally visible; an apparition; a ghost; a phantom. [F. spectre, fr. L. spectrum an appearance, image, specter, fr. specere to look. See Spy, and cf. Spectrum.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act the First: Scene IV is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Wonder-Working Magician, Project Gutenberg ebook #6372, 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 First: Scene IV, in The Wonder-Working Magician (1873), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6372, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/calderon-magico-prodigioso/act-the-first-scene-iv.html, id L26601.
Form and metre
Act the First: Scene IV is 21 lines in 6 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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.
- 6 AA godA · issuedA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| LELIUS. Further let us not proceed; | 9 | ··/˘···˘/ |
| For these rocks, these boughs so thickly | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Interwoven, that the sun | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| Cannot even find admittance, | 8 | /˘/˘·˘/˘ |
| Shall be the sole witnesses | 7 | ····/˘˘ |
| Of our duel. | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| FLORUS. Then, this instant | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Draw your sword; for here are deeds, | 7 | ······· |
| If in words elsewhere we've striven. | 8 | ···/··/˘ |
| LELIUS. Yes, I know that in the field, | 9 | ········· |
| While the tongue is mute, the glitter | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Of the sword speaks thus. | 5 | ····· |
| CYPRIAN. What's this? | 5 | /˘˘·· |
| Hold, good Florus! Lelius, listen!-- | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Here until your rage is calmed, | 8 | ·······˘ |
| Even unarmed I stand betwixt ye. | 8 | /˘/··˘/· |
| LELIUS. Thus to interrupt my vengeance, | 10 | ·····˘/·/˘ |
| Whence, O Cyprian, have you risen | 9 | ··/˘˘··/˘ |
| Like a spectre? | 4 | ··/˘ |
| FLORUS. A wild wood-god, | 6 | ······ |
| Have you from these tree-trunks issued? | 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.