Act the Second: Scene III
KING. What is this?
LUIS. A lasting woe,A misfortune, an abuse,A sharp pain, a fiend let looseFrom the infernal pit below.Let no one presume to go'Twixt me and revenge. Reflect,Fury breathes immortal breath,Vengeance has no fear of death,Nor for any man respect.I my honour must protect.
KING. Seize him.
LUIS. Let the man who sighsFor his death obey! You'll seeHow the boldest fares, for he,Even before your very eyes,Shall be slain.
KING. That this should rise!--Follow him.
LUIS. In desperate mood,Plunging headlong in red blood,Like a sea both wide and deep,Thus courageously I leap,Seeking Philip through the flood.
Words in this poem
- presume v. t.
- To assume or take beforehand; esp., to do or undertake without leave or authority previously obtained. [F. présumer, L. praesumere, praesumptum; prae before + sumere to take. See Assume, Redeem.]
- honour n.
- Esteem due or paid to worth; high estimation; respect; consideration; reverence; veneration; manifestation of respect or reverence. [OE. honor, honour, onour, onur, OF. honor, onor, honur, onur, honour, onour, F. honneur, fr. L. honor, honos.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- desperate a.
- Without hope; given to despair; hopeless. [L. desperatus, p. p. of desperare. See Despair, and cf. Desperado.]
- courageously adv.
- In a courageous manner.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act the Second: Scene III is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Purgatory of St. Patrick, Project Gutenberg ebook #6371, 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 III, in The Purgatory of St. Patrick (1873), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6371, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/calderon-purgatorio-san-patricio/act-the-second-scene-iii.html, id L26671.
Form and metre
Act the Second: Scene III is 24 lines in 6 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
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.
- 2 ABBAACDDCC woeA · abuseB · looseB · belowA · goA · reflectC · breathD · deathD · respectC · protectC
- 4 ABBA- sighsA · seeB · heB · eyesA · slain
- 6 -ABBA mood · bloodA · deepB · leapB · floodA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| KING. What is this? | 4 | ···· |
| LUIS. A lasting woe, | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| A misfortune, an abuse, | 7 | ·˘/˘·˘/ |
| A sharp pain, a fiend let loose | 7 | ······· |
| From the infernal pit below. | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Let no one presume to go | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| 'Twixt me and revenge. Reflect, | 8 | ····˘/˘/ |
| Fury breathes immortal breath, | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| Vengeance has no fear of death, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Nor for any man respect. | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| I my honour must protect. | 7 | ··/˘·˘/ |
| KING. Seize him. | 3 | ··· |
| LUIS. Let the man who sighs | 7 | ˘/····· |
| For his death obey! You'll see | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| How the boldest fares, for he, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Even before your very eyes, | 8 | /˘···/˘· |
| Shall be slain. | 3 | ··· |
| KING. That this should rise!-- | 5 | ····· |
| Follow him. | 3 | /˘· |
| LUIS. In desperate mood, | 6 | ˘/·/˘· |
| Plunging headlong in red blood, | 7 | /˘/···· |
| Like a sea both wide and deep, | 7 | ······· |
| Thus courageously I leap, | 7 | ·˘/˘˘·· |
| Seeking Philip through the flood. | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
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.