Act the Third: Scene VII
JUSTINA. 'Gainst the clouds that round me lowerI appeal to heaven's high power;Let this spectre of my fame--As before the wind the flame--As before the frost the flower,Vanish, die.... But woe is me!Who is here to heed my moan?Was there not a man with me?Yes. But no: I am alone:No. But yes: for I could see.Where so quickly could he fly?Was he born of my unrest?Oh! my danger's manifest...Father! friend! Lysander! ICall....
Words in this poem
- spectre n.
- Something preternaturally visible; an apparition; a ghost; a phantom. [F. spectre, fr. L. spectrum an appearance, image, specter, fr. specere to look. See Spy, and cf. Spectrum.]
- unrest n.
- Want of rest or repose; unquietness; sleeplessness; uneasiness; disquietude.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act the Third: Scene VII 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 VII, in The Wonder-Working Magician (1873), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6372, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/calderon-magico-prodigioso/act-the-third-scene-vii.html, id L26638.
Form and metre
Act the Third: Scene VII is 15 lines in a single stanza. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
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 -ABBACDCDCEFFE- lower · powerA · fameB · flameB · flowerA · meC · moanD · meC · aloneD · seeC · flyE · unrestF · manifestF · iE · call
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. 'Gainst the clouds that round me lower | 10 | ˘/˘······/ |
| I appeal to heaven's high power; | 9 | ·˘/·/˘·/˘ |
| Let this spectre of my fame-- | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| As before the wind the flame-- | 7 | ······· |
| As before the frost the flower, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Vanish, die.... But woe is me! | 7 | /˘····· |
| Who is here to heed my moan? | 7 | ······· |
| Was there not a man with me? | 7 | ······· |
| Yes. But no: I am alone: | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| No. But yes: for I could see. | 7 | ······· |
| Where so quickly could he fly? | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Was he born of my unrest? | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Oh! my danger's manifest... | 7 | ··/˘/˘· |
| Father! friend! Lysander! I | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| Call.... | 1 | · |
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.