Act the Second: Scene II
JUSTINA. Ah, me!Cyprian's here. [Aside to her.] See, Livia, see!
CYPRIAN [aside]. I must strive and be discreet,Feigning with a ready wit,Till my jealousy I can prove.I will only speak of love,If my jealousy will permit.Not in vain, senora sweet,--Have I changed my student's dress,The livery of thy loveliness,As a servant at thy feet,Thus I wear. If sighs could move theeI would labour to deserve thee;Give me leave at least to serve thee,Since thou wilt not let me love thee.
JUSTINA. Slight effect, sir, as I see,Have my words produced on you,Since they have not brought....
CYPRIAN. Too true!
JUSTINA. A forgetfulness of me.In what way must I explainClearer than I have done before,That persistence at my doorIs and ever must be vain?If a day, a month, a year,If for ages there you stay,Naught but this that now I sayEver can you hope to hear.As it were my latest breath,Let this sad assurance move thee,--Fate forbids that I should love thee,Cyprian, except in death.
CYPRIAN. At these words my hopes revive:--Sad! no, no, to joy they move me,For if thou in death canst love me,Soon for me will death arrive.Be it so; and since so nighComes the hour your words to prove--Ah! even now begin to love,Since I now begin to die.
Words in this poem
- cyprian a.
- Belonging to Cyprus.
- discreet a.
- Possessed of discernment, especially in avoiding error or evil, and in the adaptation of means to ends; prudent; sagacious; judicious; not rash or heedless; cautious. [F. discret, L. discretus separated (whence the meaning reserved, prudent), p. p. of discernere. See Discern, and cf. Discrete.]
- loveliness n.
- The state or quality of being lovely. [From Lovely.]
- clearer n.
- One who, or that which, clears.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act the Second: Scene II 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 Second: Scene II, in The Wonder-Working Magician (1873), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6372, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/calderon-magico-prodigioso/act-the-second-scene-ii.html, id L26615.
Form and metre
Act the Second: Scene II is 40 lines in 6 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 79%).
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 AA meA · seeA
- 2 BC--CB--BDDDD discreetB · witC · prove · love · permitC · sweetB · dress · loveliness · feetB · theeD · theeD · theeD · theeD
- 3 DE- seeD · youE · brought
- 4 E trueE
- 5 DFGGFHIIHJKKJ meD · explainF · beforeG · doorG · vainF · yearH · stayI · sayI · hearH · breathJ · theeK · theeK · deathJ
- 6 LKKLM--M reviveL · meK · meK · arriveL · nighM · prove · love · dieM
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 |
|---|---|---|
| JUSTINA. Ah, me! | 5 | ˘/˘·· |
| Cyprian's here. [Aside to her.] See, Livia, see! | 11 | /˘·˘/···/˘· |
| CYPRIAN [aside]. I must strive and be discreet, | 11 | /˘˘/·····˘/ |
| Feigning with a ready wit, | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Till my jealousy I can prove. | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| I will only speak of love, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| If my jealousy will permit. | 8 | ··/˘˘·/· |
| Not in vain, senora sweet,-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Have I changed my student's dress, | 8 | ···˘·/˘· |
| The livery of thy loveliness, | 9 | ·/˘˘··/˘˘ |
| As a servant at thy feet, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Thus I wear. If sighs could move thee | 8 | ········ |
| I would labour to deserve thee; | 8 | ··/··˘/· |
| Give me leave at least to serve thee, | 8 | ········ |
| Since thou wilt not let me love thee. | 8 | ········ |
| JUSTINA. Slight effect, sir, as I see, | 10 | ˘/˘·˘/···· |
| Have my words produced on you, | 8 | ···˘/˘·· |
| Since they have not brought.... | 5 | ····· |
| CYPRIAN. Too true! | 5 | /˘˘·· |
| JUSTINA. A forgetfulness of me. | 10 | ˘/˘·˘/˘˘·· |
| In what way must I explain | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Clearer than I have done before, | 8 | /˘······ |
| That persistence at my door | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| Is and ever must be vain? | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| If a day, a month, a year, | 7 | ······· |
| If for ages there you stay, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Naught but this that now I say | 7 | ······· |
| Ever can you hope to hear. | 7 | /˘····· |
| As it were my latest breath, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Let this sad assurance move thee,-- | 8 | ···˘/˘·· |
| Fate forbids that I should love thee, | 8 | ·˘/····· |
| Cyprian, except in death. | 7 | /˘˘···· |
| CYPRIAN. At these words my hopes revive:-- | 9 | /˘·····˘/ |
| Sad! no, no, to joy they move me, | 8 | ········ |
| For if thou in death canst love me, | 8 | ········ |
| Soon for me will death arrive. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Be it so; and since so nigh | 7 | ······· |
| Comes the hour your words to prove-- | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Ah! even now begin to love, | 8 | ·/˘·˘/·· |
| Since I now begin to die. | 7 | ···˘/·· |
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.