Act the Third: Scene X
CYPRIAN. Doubtless something must have happened'Mong the stars; imperial clusters,Since I find their influencesTo my wishes so repugnant.Up from the profound abyssesSome dark caveat must be uttered,Which prohibits the obedienceWhich they owe me as my subjects.I, a thousand times, with spell-wordsMade the winds of heaven to shudder,I, a thousand times, the bosomOf the earth with symbols furrowed,Yet mine eyes have not been gladdenedBy the human sun refulgentThat I seek, nor in mine armsHold that human heaven.
CLARIN. What wonder?When a thousand times have IScraped the earth as if for nuggets,When a thousand times the windBy my screeching was perturbed,And yet Livia was oblivious.
CYPRIAN. Once again then I am humbledTo invoke her thus. Oh, listen,Beautiful Justina....
Words in this poem
- cyprian a.
- Belonging to Cyprus.
- doubtless a.
- Free from fear or suspicion.
- refulgent a.
- Casting a bright light; radiant; brilliant; resplendent; shining; splendid; as, refulgent beams. [L. refulgens, p. pr. of refulgere to flash back, to shine bright; pref. re- re- + fulgere to shine. See Fulgent.]
- perturbed a.
- Agitated; disturbed; troubled.
- oblivious a.
- Promoting oblivion; causing forgetfulness. [L.obliviosus: cf.F. oblivieux.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act the Third: Scene X 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 X, in The Wonder-Working Magician (1873), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6372, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/calderon-magico-prodigioso/act-the-third-scene-x.html, id L26641.
Form and metre
Act the Third: Scene X is 25 lines in 3 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%).
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 |
|---|---|---|
| CYPRIAN. Doubtless something must have happened | 10 | /˘/˘/˘··/˘ |
| 'Mong the stars; imperial clusters, | 9 | ···˘/˘˘/˘ |
| Since I find their influences | 8 | ····/·˘˘ |
| To my wishes so repugnant. | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Up from the profound abysses | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| Some dark caveat must be uttered, | 9 | ··/˘···/˘ |
| Which prohibits the obedience | 9 | ·˘/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| Which they owe me as my subjects. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| I, a thousand times, with spell-words | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Made the winds of heaven to shudder, | 9 | ····/˘·/˘ |
| I, a thousand times, the bosom | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Of the earth with symbols furrowed, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Yet mine eyes have not been gladdened | 8 | ······/˘ |
| By the human sun refulgent | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| That I seek, nor in mine arms | 7 | ······· |
| Hold that human heaven. | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| CLARIN. What wonder? | 5 | ···/˘ |
| When a thousand times have I | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Scraped the earth as if for nuggets, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| When a thousand times the wind | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| By my screeching was perturbed, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| And yet Livia was oblivious. | 9 | ··/˘·˘/˘˘ |
| CYPRIAN. Once again then I am humbled | 10 | /˘·˘/···/˘ |
| To invoke her thus. Oh, listen, | 8 | ·˘/···/˘ |
| Beautiful Justina.... | 6 | /˘˘˘/˘ |
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.