Act the First: Scene X
CLARIN. Livia, heigh!
MOSCON. And Livia, ho!--List good lass.
CLARIN. We're here, we two.
LIVIA. Well, what WANT you, sir? and YOU,What do you want?
CLARIN. We both would show,If perchance you do not know,That we love you to distraction.On a murderous transactionWe came here, to kill each other:--So to put an end to the bother,Just choose one for satisfaction.
LIVIA. Why the thing that you're demandingIs so great, it hath bereft meOf my wits. My grief hath left meWithout sense or understanding.Choose but one! My heart expanding,Beats so hard a strait to shun!I one only! 'Tis for funThat you ask me so to do.For with heart enough for two,Why require that I choose one?
CLARIN. Two at once would you have to woo?Would not two embarrass you, pray?
LIVIA. No, we women have a wayTo dispose of them two by two.
MOSCON. What's the way? do tell us, do;--What is it? speak.
LIVIA. You put one out!--I would love them, do not doubt....
MOSCON. How?
CLARIN. Eh,What's ALTERNATIVELY?
LIVIA. 'Tis to say,That I would love them day about.
MOSCON. Well, I choose to-day: good-bye.
CLARIN. I, to-morrow, the better part.So I give it with all my heart.
MOSCON. Livia, in fine, for whom I die,To-day love me, and to-day love I.Happy is he who so much can say.
CLARIN. Hearken, my friend: you know my way.
MOSCON. Why this speech? Does a threat lie in it?
CLARIN. Mind, she is not yours a minuteAfter the clock strikes twelve to-day.
Words in this poem
- lass n.
- A youth woman; a girl; a sweetheart. [OE. lasse; prob. of Celtic origin; cf. W. llodes girl, fem. of llawd lad. (Lad a youth.]
- distraction n.
- The act of distracting; a drawing apart; separation. [L. distractio: cf. F. distraction.]
- alternatively adv.
- In the manner of alternatives, or that admits the choice of one out of two things.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act the First: Scene X 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 X, in The Wonder-Working Magician (1873), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6372, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/calderon-magico-prodigioso/act-the-first-scene-x.html, id L26607.
Form and metre
Act the First: Scene X is 46 lines in 19 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.
- 2 A- hoA · lass
- 3 B twoB
- 4 B- youB · want
- 5 AACC--C showA · knowA · distractionC · transactionC · other · bother · satisfactionC
- 6 D--DDEEFFE demandingD · me · me · understandingD · expandingD · shunE · funE · doF · twoF · oneE
- 7 FG wooF · prayG
- 8 GF wayG · twoF
- 9 F- doF · speak
- 10 HH outH · doubtH
- 13 -H say · aboutH
- 14 I byeI
- 15 JJ partJ · heartJ
- 16 IIK dieI · iI · sayK
- 17 K wayK
- 19 -K minute · dayK
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. Livia, heigh! | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| MOSCON. And Livia, ho!-- | 7 | ···/˘˘· |
| List good lass. | 3 | ··· |
| CLARIN. We're here, we two. | 6 | ······ |
| LIVIA. Well, what WANT you, sir? and YOU, | 9 | /˘······· |
| What do you want? | 4 | ···· |
| CLARIN. We both would show, | 6 | ······ |
| If perchance you do not know, | 7 | ·˘/···· |
| That we love you to distraction. | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| On a murderous transaction | 8 | ··/˘˘˘/˘ |
| We came here, to kill each other:-- | 8 | ······/˘ |
| So to put an end to the bother, | 9 | ·······/˘ |
| Just choose one for satisfaction. | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| LIVIA. Why the thing that you're demanding | 10 | /˘·····˘/˘ |
| Is so great, it hath bereft me | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| Of my wits. My grief hath left me | 8 | ········ |
| Without sense or understanding. | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Choose but one! My heart expanding, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Beats so hard a strait to shun! | 7 | ······· |
| I one only! 'Tis for fun | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| That you ask me so to do. | 7 | ······· |
| For with heart enough for two, | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| Why require that I choose one? | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| CLARIN. Two at once would you have to woo? | 10 | ·········· |
| Would not two embarrass you, pray? | 8 | ···˘/˘·· |
| LIVIA. No, we women have a way | 9 | /˘··/˘··· |
| To dispose of them two by two. | 8 | ·˘/····· |
| MOSCON. What's the way? do tell us, do;-- | 9 | ········· |
| What is it? speak. | 4 | ···· |
| LIVIA. You put one out!-- | 7 | /˘˘···· |
| I would love them, do not doubt.... | 7 | ······· |
| MOSCON. How? | 3 | ··· |
| CLARIN. Eh, | 3 | ··· |
| What's ALTERNATIVELY? | 6 | ·˘/˘˘˘ |
| LIVIA. 'Tis to say, | 6 | /˘˘··· |
| That I would love them day about. | 8 | ········ |
| MOSCON. Well, I choose to-day: good-bye. | 9 | ········· |
| CLARIN. I, to-morrow, the better part. | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| So I give it with all my heart. | 8 | ········ |
| MOSCON. Livia, in fine, for whom I die, | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| To-day love me, and to-day love I. | 9 | ········· |
| Happy is he who so much can say. | 9 | /˘······· |
| CLARIN. Hearken, my friend: you know my way. | 10 | ··/˘······ |
| MOSCON. Why this speech? Does a threat lie in it? | 11 | ··········· |
| CLARIN. Mind, she is not yours a minute | 10 | ········/˘ |
| After the clock strikes twelve to-day. | 8 | ········ |
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