Act the First: Scene VI
MOSCON. Has your worship heard our masterNow is gone to pay a visitTo Justina?
CLARIN. Yes, my lord.But what matter if he didn't?
MOSCON. Matter quite enough, your worship;He has no business there.
CLARIN. Why, prithee?
MOSCON. Why? because I die for Livia,Who is maid to this Justina,And I wouldn't have even the sunGet a glimpse of her through the window.
CLARIN. Well, that's good; but, for a lady,To contend were worse than silly,Whom I mean to make my wife.
MOSCON. Excellent, faith! the fancy ticklesQuite my fancy. Let her sayWho it is that annoys or nicks herTo a nicety. Let's go see her,And she'll choose.
CLARIN. A good idea!--Though I fear she'll pitch on you.
MOSCON. Have you then that wise suspicion?
CLARIN. Yes; for always these same LiviasChoose the worst, th'ungrateful minxes.
Words in this poem
- prithee interj.
- A corruption of pray thee; as, I prithee; generally used without I.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act the First: Scene VI 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 VI, in The Wonder-Working Magician (1873), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6372, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/calderon-magico-prodigioso/act-the-first-scene-vi.html, id L26603.
Form and metre
Act the First: Scene VI is 25 lines in 10 stanzas. 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.
- 7 --AA- tickles · say · herA · herA · choose
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 |
|---|---|---|
| MOSCON. Has your worship heard our master | 10 | ····/˘·//˘ |
| Now is gone to pay a visit | 8 | ······/˘ |
| To Justina? | 4 | ·˘/˘ |
| CLARIN. Yes, my lord. | 5 | ····· |
| But what matter if he didn't? | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| MOSCON. Matter quite enough, your worship; | 10 | ··/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| He has no business there. | 6 | ···/˘· |
| CLARIN. Why, prithee? | 5 | ···/˘ |
| MOSCON. Why? because I die for Livia, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| Who is maid to this Justina, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| And I wouldn't have even the sun | 8 | ··/˘·/·· |
| Get a glimpse of her through the window. | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| CLARIN. Well, that's good; but, for a lady, | 10 | ········/˘ |
| To contend were worse than silly, | 8 | ·˘/···/˘ |
| Whom I mean to make my wife. | 7 | ······· |
| MOSCON. Excellent, faith! the fancy tickles | 10 | ··/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Quite my fancy. Let her say | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Who it is that annoys or nicks her | 9 | ····˘/··· |
| To a nicety. Let's go see her, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| And she'll choose. | 3 | ··· |
| CLARIN. A good idea!-- | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| Though I fear she'll pitch on you. | 7 | ······· |
| MOSCON. Have you then that wise suspicion? | 10 | ·······˘/˘ |
| CLARIN. Yes; for always these same Livias | 10 | ····/···/˘ |
| Choose the worst, th'ungrateful minxes. | 9 | ········· |
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.