Act the Second: Scene VI
CYPRIAN. Memory of a maddened brain,Do not with such strong controlMake me think another soulIs what in my heart doth reign.Blind idolator I have been--Lost in love's ambitious flight,Since such beauty met my sight,Since a goddess I have seen.Yet in such a maze of woeRigorous fate doth make me move,That I know but whom I love,And of whom I am jealous--no.Yet this passion is so strong--Ah, so sweet this fascination,Driving my imaginationWith resistless force along--That I would (I know too wellHow this madness doth degrade me)To some devilish power to aid me,Were it even to rise from hell,Where some mightier power hath kept it,--Sharing all its pains in common,--I would, to possess this woman,Give my soul.
Words in this poem
- cyprian a.
- Belonging to Cyprus.
- maze n.
- A wild fancy; a confused notion. [OE. mase; cf. OE. masen to confuse, puzzle, Norweg. masast to fall into a slumber, masa to be continually busy, prate, chatter, Icel. masa to chatter, dial. Sw.]
- fascination n.
- The act of fascinating, bewhiching, or enchanting; enchantment; witchcraft; the exercise of a powerful or irresistible influence on the affections or passions; unseen, inexplicable influence. [L. fascinatio; cf. F. fascination.]
- resistless a.
- Having no power to resist; making no opposition.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act the Second: 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 Second: Scene VI, in The Wonder-Working Magician (1873), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6372, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/calderon-magico-prodigioso/act-the-second-scene-vi.html, id L26619.
Form and metre
Act the Second: Scene VI is 24 lines in a single stanza. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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 ABBA-CC-DEEDFGGFHIIH---B brainA · controlB · soulB · reignA · been · flightC · sightC · seen · woeD · moveE · loveE · noD · strongF · fascinationG · imaginationG · alongF · wellH · meI · meI · hellH · it · common · woman · soulB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| CYPRIAN. Memory of a maddened brain, | 9 | /˘/˘··/˘· |
| Do not with such strong control | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Make me think another soul | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Is what in my heart doth reign. | 7 | ······· |
| Blind idolator I have been-- | 8 | ········ |
| Lost in love's ambitious flight, | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Since such beauty met my sight, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Since a goddess I have seen. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Yet in such a maze of woe | 7 | ······· |
| Rigorous fate doth make me move, | 8 | /˘˘····· |
| That I know but whom I love, | 7 | ······· |
| And of whom I am jealous--no. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Yet this passion is so strong-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Ah, so sweet this fascination, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Driving my imagination | 8 | /˘·˘·˘/˘ |
| With resistless force along-- | 7 | ·˘/˘·˘/ |
| That I would (I know too well | 7 | ······· |
| How this madness doth degrade me) | 8 | ··/˘·˘/· |
| To some devilish power to aid me, | 8 | ··/˘/··· |
| Were it even to rise from hell, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Where some mightier power hath kept it,-- | 8 | ··/˘/··· |
| Sharing all its pains in common,-- | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| I would, to possess this woman, | 8 | ···˘/·/˘ |
| Give my soul. | 3 | ··· |
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.