Act the Second: Scene XII
LESBIA. Not a trace of them is found;All the mountain, hill and valley,Leaf by leaf has been explored,Bough by bough has been examined,Rock by rock has been searched through,Still no clue wherewith to track themCan we light on.
KING. Without doubt,To preserve them from my anger,Has the earth engulphed the two;For not heaven itself could guard themFrom my wrath if still they lived.
LESBIA. See the sun his disentangledGolden tresses far extendsOver mountains, groves and gardens,Showing that the day hath come.
PHILIP. Deign, your majesty, to hearkenTo a tragedy more dreadful,To a crime more unexampledThan has time or fortune everYet recorded in earth's annals.Seeking traces of PoloniaThrough these savage woods distractedRoamed I restless all the night-time,Till at length and amid the darknessHalf awakened rose the dawn;Not in veils of gold and amberWas she dressed, a robe of mourningFormed of clouds composed her mantle,And with discontented lightHidden were the stars and planets,Though for this one time aloneThey were happy in their absence.Searching there in every part,We approached where blood was spatteredOn the tender dewy flower,And upon the ground some fragments of a woman's dress were strewn.By these signs at once attracted,We went on, 'till at the footOf a great rock overhanging,In a fragrant tomb of rosesLay Polonia, dead and stabbed there.
Words in this poem
- clue n.
- A ball of thread, yarn, or cord; also, The thread itself. [OE. clewe, clowe, clue, AS. cleowen, cliwen, clywe ball of thread; akin to D. kluwen, OHG. chliwa, chliuwa, G. dim. kleuel, knäuel, and perch. to L. gluma hull,]
- wherewith adv.
- With which; -- used relatively.
- deign v. t.
- To esteem worthy; to consider worth notice; -- opposed to disdain. [OE. deinen, deignen, OF. degner, deigner, daigner, F. daigner, fr. L. dignari to deem worthy, deign, fr. dignus worthy; akin to decere to be fitting. See Decent]
- dreadful a.
- Full of dread or terror; fearful.
- unexampled a.
- Having no example or similar case; being without precedent; unprecedented; unparalleled.
- annals n.
- A relation of events in chronological order, each event being recorded under the year in which it happened. [L. annalis (sc. liber), and more frequently in the pl. annales (sc. libri), chronicles, fr. annus year. Cf. Annual.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act the Second: Scene XII 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 XII, 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-xii.html, id L26680.
Form and metre
Act the Second: Scene XII is 42 lines in 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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--- foundA · valley · explored · examinedA · through · them · on
- 4 ------A--------------A---- hearken · dreadful · unexampled · ever · annals · polonia · distractedA · time · darkness · dawn · amber · mourning · mantle · light · planets · alone · absence · part · spattered · flower · strewn · attractedA · foot · overhanging · roses · there
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 |
|---|---|---|
| LESBIA. Not a trace of them is found; | 9 | ········· |
| All the mountain, hill and valley, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Leaf by leaf has been explored, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Bough by bough has been examined, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Rock by rock has been searched through, | 8 | ······˘· |
| Still no clue wherewith to track them | 8 | ···˘/··· |
| Can we light on. | 4 | ···· |
| KING. Without doubt, | 4 | ···· |
| To preserve them from my anger, | 8 | ·˘/···/˘ |
| Has the earth engulphed the two; | 8 | ·····˘·· |
| For not heaven itself could guard them | 8 | ··/˘/··· |
| From my wrath if still they lived. | 8 | ·······˘ |
| LESBIA. See the sun his disentangled | 10 | ·······˘/˘ |
| Golden tresses far extends | 7 | /˘/˘·˘/ |
| Over mountains, groves and gardens, | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Showing that the day hath come. | 7 | /˘····· |
| PHILIP. Deign, your majesty, to hearken | 9 | /˘··/˘·/˘ |
| To a tragedy more dreadful, | 8 | ··/˘˘·/˘ |
| To a crime more unexampled | 8 | ·······˘ |
| Than has time or fortune ever | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| Yet recorded in earth's annals. | 8 | ·˘/˘··/˘ |
| Seeking traces of Polonia | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| Through these savage woods distracted | 8 | ··/˘·˘/˘ |
| Roamed I restless all the night-time, | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| Till at length and amid the darkness | 9 | ····˘/·/˘ |
| Half awakened rose the dawn; | 8 | ·˘/˘˘··· |
| Not in veils of gold and amber | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Was she dressed, a robe of mourning | 8 | ······/˘ |
| Formed of clouds composed her mantle, | 8 | ···˘/·/˘ |
| And with discontented light | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Hidden were the stars and planets, | 8 | /˘····/˘ |
| Though for this one time alone | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| They were happy in their absence. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Searching there in every part, | 8 | /˘··/˘˘· |
| We approached where blood was spattered | 8 | ·˘/···/˘ |
| On the tender dewy flower, | 8 | ··/˘/˘/˘ |
| And upon the ground some fragments of a woman's dress were strewn. | 15 | ······/˘··/˘··· |
| By these signs at once attracted, | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| We went on, 'till at the foot | 7 | ······· |
| Of a great rock overhanging, | 8 | ····/˘·˘ |
| In a fragrant tomb of roses | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| Lay Polonia, dead and stabbed there. | 8 | ········ |
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.