Act the First: Scene XI
LELIUS [aside]. Scarcely has the darksome nightO'er the brow of heaven extendedIts black veil, when I come hitherTo adore this sacred threshold;For although at Cyprian's prayer,I my sharp sword have suspended,I have not my love, for loveCannot be suspended ever.
FLORUS [aside]. Here the dawn will find me waiting:--Here, because 'tis force compels meTo go hence, for I, elsewhere,Am away from my true centre.Would to love the day had come,And with it the dear, expectedAnswer Cyprian may bring me,Risking all upon that venture.
LELIUS [aside]. I have surely in that windowHeard a noise.
FLORUS [aside]. Some sound descends hereFrom that balcony.
Words in this poem
- darksome a.
- Dark; gloomy; obscure; shaded; cheerless.
- adore v. t.
- To worship with profound reverence; to pay divine honors to; to honor as deity or as divine. [OE. aouren, anouren, adoren, OF. aorer, adorer, F. adorer, fr. L. adorare; ad + orare to speak, pray, os, oris, mouth. In OE. confused with honor, the French pr]
- centre v. i.
- To be placed in a center; to be central.
- cyprian a.
- Belonging to Cyprus.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act the First: Scene XI 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 XI, in The Wonder-Working Magician (1873), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6372, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/calderon-magico-prodigioso/act-the-first-scene-xi.html, id L26608.
Form and metre
Act the First: Scene XI is 20 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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.
- 1 -A---A-- night · extendedA · hither · threshold · prayer · suspendedA · love · ever
- 2 -A----A- waiting · meA · elsewhere · centre · come · expected · meA · venture
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 [aside]. Scarcely has the darksome night | 11 | ··˘//˘··/˘· |
| O'er the brow of heaven extended | 9 | ····/˘˘/˘ |
| Its black veil, when I come hither | 8 | ······/˘ |
| To adore this sacred threshold; | 8 | ·˘/·/˘/· |
| For although at Cyprian's prayer, | 8 | ····/˘˘· |
| I my sharp sword have suspended, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| I have not my love, for love | 7 | ······· |
| Cannot be suspended ever. | 8 | /˘·˘/˘/˘ |
| FLORUS [aside]. Here the dawn will find me waiting:-- | 12 | ··˘/······/˘ |
| Here, because 'tis force compels me | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| To go hence, for I, elsewhere, | 7 | ·····/· |
| Am away from my true centre. | 8 | ·˘/···/˘ |
| Would to love the day had come, | 7 | ······· |
| And with it the dear, expected | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Answer Cyprian may bring me, | 8 | /˘/˘˘··· |
| Risking all upon that venture. | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| LELIUS [aside]. I have surely in that window | 12 | ··˘/··/˘··/˘ |
| Heard a noise. | 3 | ··· |
| FLORUS [aside]. Some sound descends here | 9 | ··˘/··˘/· |
| From that balcony. | 5 | ··/˘˘ |
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.