Act the Third: Scene XIII
CYPRIAN. Now, O beautiful Justina,In this sweet and secret covert,Where no beam of sun can enter,Nor the breeze of heaven blow roughly,Now the trophy of thy beautyMakes my magic toils triumphant,For here folding thee, no longerHave I need to fear disturbance.Fair Justina, thou hast cost meEven my soul. But in my judgment,Since the gain has been so glorious,Not so dear has been the purchase.Oh! unveil thyself, fair goddess,Not in the clouds obscure and murky,Not in vapours hide the sun,Show its golden rays refulgent.But, O woe! what's this I see!Is it a cold corse, mute, pulseless,That within its arms expects me?Who, in one brief moment's compass,Could upon these faded features,Pallid, motionless, and shrunken,Have extinguished the bright beautiesOf the blush rose and the purple?
THE SKELETON. Cyprian, such are all the gloriesOf the world that you so covet.
Words in this poem
- cyprian a.
- Belonging to Cyprus.
- trophy n.
- A sign or memorial of a victory raised on the field of battle, or, in case of a naval victory, on the nearest land. Sometimes trophies were erected in the chief city of the conquered people. [F. trophée (cf. It. & Sp. trofeo), L. tropaeum, trophaeum, Gr. Trope.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- glorious a.
- Exhibiting attributes, qualities, or acts that are worthy of or receive glory; noble; praiseworthy; excellent; splendid; illustrious; inspiring admiration; as, glorious deeds. [OF. glorios, glorious, F. glorieux, fr. L. gloriosus. See Glory, n.]
- unveil v. t.
- To remove a veil from; to divest of a veil; to uncover; to disclose to view; to reveal; as, she unveiled her face. [1st pref. un- + veil.]
- 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.]
- corse n.
- A living body or its bulk. [OF. cors, F. corps. See Corpse.]
- pulseless a.
- Having no pulsation; lifeless.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act the Third: 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 Third: Scene XIII, in The Wonder-Working Magician (1873), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6372, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/calderon-magico-prodigioso/act-the-third-scene-xiii.html, id L26644.
Form and metre
Act the Third: Scene XIII is 26 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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 --------A-------A-A----- justina · covert · enter · roughly · beauty · triumphant · longer · disturbance · meA · judgment · glorious · purchase · goddess · murky · sun · refulgent · seeA · pulseless · meA · compass · features · shrunken · beauties · purple
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. Now, O beautiful Justina, | 9 | /˘··/˘˘/˘ |
| In this sweet and secret covert, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Where no beam of sun can enter, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Nor the breeze of heaven blow roughly, | 9 | ····/˘·/˘ |
| Now the trophy of thy beauty | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Makes my magic toils triumphant, | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| For here folding thee, no longer | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Have I need to fear disturbance. | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Fair Justina, thou hast cost me | 8 | ·˘/˘···· |
| Even my soul. But in my judgment, | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| Since the gain has been so glorious, | 9 | ······/˘˘ |
| Not so dear has been the purchase. | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Oh! unveil thyself, fair goddess, | 8 | ·˘/˘/·/˘ |
| Not in the clouds obscure and murky, | 9 | ····˘/·/˘ |
| Not in vapours hide the sun, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Show its golden rays refulgent. | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| But, O woe! what's this I see! | 7 | ······· |
| Is it a cold corse, mute, pulseless, | 8 | ······/˘ |
| That within its arms expects me? | 8 | ·····˘/· |
| Who, in one brief moment's compass, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Could upon these faded features, | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Pallid, motionless, and shrunken, | 8 | /˘/˘˘·/˘ |
| Have extinguished the bright beauties | 8 | ·˘/˘··/˘ |
| Of the blush rose and the purple? | 8 | ······/˘ |
| THE SKELETON. Cyprian, such are all the glories | 11 | ·/˘/˘····/˘ |
| Of the world that you so covet. | 8 | ······/˘ |
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