Act the Second: Scene XIII
FLORUS [aside]. Licence has a jealous lover,Who but enters to unmask hereA pretended purity,To forego politer manners.I come here with that intention...But as she is with her fatherI will wait a new occasion.
LYSANDER. Who is there? Some footstep passes.
FLORUS [aside]. Ah! 'tis now impossibleWithout speaking to get back here.Some excuse I'll try to offer:--I am...
LYSANDER. You here, sir?
FLORUS. Your pardon.I ask leave, sir, to speak with youOn a most important matter.
JUSTINA [aside]. Oh! take pity on me, fortune,For these trials are too many.
LYSANDER. Well, sir, speak.
FLORUS [aside, at the door]. Florus in Justina's houseLeaves and enters like a master!--These are not unfounded jealousies,These are real and substantial.
LYSANDER. You grow pale, you change your colour.
FLORUS. Do not wonder, be not startled,For I came to give a warning,To your life of utmost value,Of an enemy that you have,Who your swift destruction planneth.What I've said is quite sufficient.
LYSANDER [aside]. Florus, doubtless, must have gatheredSomehow that I am a Christian,And thus comes in kindliest mannerOf my danger to apprise me.--Speak, hide nothing in this matter.
Words in this poem
- unmask v. t.
- To strip of a mask or disguise; to lay open; to expose. [1st pref. un- + mask.]
- forego v. t.
- To quit; to relinquish; to leave. [See Forgo.]
- unfounded a.
- Not founded; not built or established.
- doubtless a.
- Free from fear or suspicion.
- somehow adv.
- In one way or another; in some way not yet known or designated; by some means; as, the thing must be done somehow; he lives somehow.
- apprise n.
- Notice; information. Gower.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act the Second: Scene XIII 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 XIII, in The Wonder-Working Magician (1873), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6372, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/calderon-magico-prodigioso/act-the-second-scene-xiii.html, id L26626.
Form and metre
Act the Second: Scene XIII is 35 lines in 11 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 82%).
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| FLORUS [aside]. Licence has a jealous lover, | 12 | ··˘//˘··/˘/˘ |
| Who but enters to unmask here | 8 | ··/˘·˘/· |
| A pretended purity, | 7 | ·˘/˘/˘˘ |
| To forego politer manners. | 8 | ·˘/···/˘ |
| I come here with that intention... | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| But as she is with her father | 8 | ······/˘ |
| I will wait a new occasion. | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| LYSANDER. Who is there? Some footstep passes. | 11 | ·/˘····/·/˘ |
| FLORUS [aside]. Ah! 'tis now impossible | 10 | ··˘/···˘/˘ |
| Without speaking to get back here. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Some excuse I'll try to offer:-- | 8 | ·˘/···/˘ |
| I am... | 2 | ·· |
| LYSANDER. You here, sir? | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| FLORUS. Your pardon. | 5 | ···/˘ |
| I ask leave, sir, to speak with you | 8 | ········ |
| On a most important matter. | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| JUSTINA [aside]. Oh! take pity on me, fortune, | 13 | ˘/˘˘/··/˘··/˘ |
| For these trials are too many. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| LYSANDER. Well, sir, speak. | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| FLORUS [aside, at the door]. Florus in Justina's house | 14 | ··˘/······˘/˘· |
| Leaves and enters like a master!-- | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| These are not unfounded jealousies, | 9 | ···˘/˘/˘˘ |
| These are real and substantial. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| LYSANDER. You grow pale, you change your colour. | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| FLORUS. Do not wonder, be not startled, | 10 | ····/˘··/˘ |
| For I came to give a warning, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| To your life of utmost value, | 8 | ····/·/˘ |
| Of an enemy that you have, | 8 | ··/˘˘··· |
| Who your swift destruction planneth. | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| What I've said is quite sufficient. | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| LYSANDER [aside]. Florus, doubtless, must have gathered | 13 | ·/˘˘/··/˘··/˘ |
| Somehow that I am a Christian, | 8 | /·····/˘ |
| And thus comes in kindliest manner | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Of my danger to apprise me.-- | 8 | ··/˘·˘/· |
| Speak, hide nothing in this matter. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
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.