Act the Third: Scene I
CYPRIAN. Ungrateful beauty mine,At length the day, the happy day doth shine--My hope's remotest range,The limits of my love and of thy change,Since I to-day will gainAt last my triumph over thy disdain.This lofty mountain nigh,Raised to the star-lit palace of the sky,And this dark cavern's gloom,Of two that live, so long the dismal tomb,Are the rough school whereinFrom magic art its mystic lore I win,And such perfection reachThat I can now my mighty master teach.Seeing, that on this day, since I came hereThe sun completes its course from sphere to sphere,I from my prison cell come forth to viewWhat in the light I now have power to do.Ye skies of cloudless dayList to my magic spell-words and obey;Swift zephyrs that rejoiceIn heaven's warm light, stand still and hear my voice;Stupendous mountain rockShake at my words as at an earthquake shock;Ye trees in rough bark drestBe frightened at the groanings of my breast;Ye flowers so fair and frailFaint at the echoing terror of my wail;Ye sweet melodious birdsHush all your songs before my awful words;Ye cruel beasts of preySee the first fruits of my long toil to-day;For blinded, dazzled, dazed,Confused, disturbed, astonished and amazed,Ye skies and zephyrs, rocks, and trees, and flowers,And birds, and beasts, behold my magic powers,And thus to all make plainCyprian's infernal study is not vain.
Words in this poem
- cyprian a.
- Belonging to Cyprus.
- ungrateful a.
- Not grateful; not thankful for favors; making no returns, or making ill return for kindness, attention, etc.; ingrateful. South.
- dismal a.
- Fatal; ill-omened; unlucky. [Formerly a noun; e. g., "I trow it was in the dismalle." Chaucer. Of uncertain origin; but perh. (as suggested by Skeat) from OF. disme, F. dîme, tithe, the phr]
- cloudless a.
- Without a cloud; clear; bright.
- stupendous a.
- Astonishing; wonderful; amazing; especially, astonishing in magnitude or elevation; as, a stupendous pile. [L. stupendus astonishing, p. future pass. of stupere to be astonished at. Cf. Stupid.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act the Third: Scene I 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 Third: Scene I, in The Wonder-Working Magician (1873), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6372, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/calderon-magico-prodigioso/act-the-third-scene-i.html, id L26632.
Form and metre
Act the Third: Scene I is 38 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLMMNNOOPPQQRRSS mineA · shineA · rangeB · changeB · gainC · disdainC · nighD · skyD · gloomE · tombE · whereinF · winF · reachG · teachG · hereH · sphereH · viewI · doI · dayJ · obeyJ · rejoiceK · voiceK · rockL · shockL · drestM · breastM · frailN · wailN · birdsO · wordsO · preyP · dayP · dazedQ · amazedQ · flowersR · powersR · plainS · vainS
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 iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| CYPRIAN. Ungrateful beauty mine, | 9 | /˘˘˘/˘/˘· |
| At length the day, the happy day doth shine-- | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| My hope's remotest range, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| The limits of my love and of thy change, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Since I to-day will gain | 6 | ······ |
| At last my triumph over thy disdain. | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| This lofty mountain nigh, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Raised to the star-lit palace of the sky, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| And this dark cavern's gloom, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Of two that live, so long the dismal tomb, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Are the rough school wherein | 6 | ······ |
| From magic art its mystic lore I win, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And such perfection reach | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| That I can now my mighty master teach. | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Seeing, that on this day, since I came here | 10 | /˘········ |
| The sun completes its course from sphere to sphere, | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| I from my prison cell come forth to view | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| What in the light I now have power to do. | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Ye skies of cloudless day | 6 | ···/˘· |
| List to my magic spell-words and obey; | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| Swift zephyrs that rejoice | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| In heaven's warm light, stand still and hear my voice; | 11 | ·/˘········ |
| Stupendous mountain rock | 6 | ˘/˘/˘· |
| Shake at my words as at an earthquake shock; | 10 | ·······/·· |
| Ye trees in rough bark drest | 6 | ······ |
| Be frightened at the groanings of my breast; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Ye flowers so fair and frail | 7 | ·/˘···· |
| Faint at the echoing terror of my wail; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| Ye sweet melodious birds | 7 | ··˘/˘˘· |
| Hush all your songs before my awful words; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Ye cruel beasts of prey | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| See the first fruits of my long toil to-day; | 10 | ·········· |
| For blinded, dazzled, dazed, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Confused, disturbed, astonished and amazed, | 10 | ˘/˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Ye skies and zephyrs, rocks, and trees, and flowers, | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| And birds, and beasts, behold my magic powers, | 11 | ····˘/·/˘/˘ |
| And thus to all make plain | 6 | ······ |
| Cyprian's infernal study is not vain. | 10 | /˘˘/˘/˘··· |
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.