Act IV: Scene I
POLY.What is thy will?
CLEON.Pauline would see my lord.
POLY.Ah, how my heart quails at that single word!Thee, Felix, I o'ercame within my cell,Laughed at thy threats if death and torture fell;Yet hast thou still one arm to rouse my fears,The rest I scorn, but dread thy daughter's tears!One only talisman remains; great God, 'tis mine,Sufficient for my every need His strength divine!O thou, dear saint, thy scars all healed, white-robed, in glory crowned,Plead that I too may victory win, thou who hast victory found!Nearchus, who hast clasped in Heaven that dear, that pierced hand,Plead that thy friend, who wrestles here, may safely by thee stand!Ye Guards, one last kind service, I would ask,Well may ye grant it, 'tis an easy task:I do not seek deliverance from these thralls,(Looks at his chains.)I do not care to scale my prison walls,But, since three warriors armed can surely guardOne fettered man in safest watch and ward,Go one, and beg of great Severus' graceThat he would deign to meet me face to face;To him would I a secret now impart,Which much concerns his joy and peace of heart.
CLEON.On willing foot, my lord, do I obey.
POLY.Severus must this kindly service pay;Ah, lose no time, time now has fleetest wings.
CLEON.Full soon to thee thy prayer Severus brings.
(Exit Cleon. Guardsmen retire to background.)
Words in this poem
- pauline a.
- Of or pertaining to the apostle Paul, or his writings; resembling, or conforming to, the writings of Paul; as, the Pauline epistles; Pauline doctrine. [L. Paulinus, fr. Paulus Paul.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
- fettered a.
- Seeming as if fettered, as the feet pf certain animals which bend backward, and appear unfit for walking.
- 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]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act IV: Scene I is in the public domain. This text is taken from Polyeucte, Project Gutenberg ebook #2543, the Thomas Constable 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: Pierre Corneille, Act IV: Scene I, in Polyeucte (1910), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #2543, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/corneille-polyeucte/act-iv-scene-i.html, id L27790.
Form and metre
Act IV: Scene I is 35 lines in 7 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 85%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
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.
- 3 --AABBCCDDEEFFG-G--HHII poly · word · cellA · fellA · fearsB · tearsB · mineC · divineC · crownedD · foundD · handE · standE · askF · taskF · thrallsG · chains · wallsG · guard · ward · graceH · faceH · impartI · heartI
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 iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| POLY. | 2 | /˘ |
| What is thy will? | 4 | ···· |
| CLEON. | 1 | · |
| Pauline would see my lord. | 6 | ˘/···· |
| POLY. | 2 | /˘ |
| Ah, how my heart quails at that single word! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Thee, Felix, I o'ercame within my cell, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Laughed at thy threats if death and torture fell; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Yet hast thou still one arm to rouse my fears, | 10 | ·········· |
| The rest I scorn, but dread thy daughter's tears! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| One only talisman remains; great God, 'tis mine, | 11 | ·/˘/˘˘/···· |
| Sufficient for my every need His strength divine! | 12 | ˘/˘··/˘···˘/ |
| O thou, dear saint, thy scars all healed, white-robed, in glory crowned, | 14 | ···········/˘· |
| Plead that I too may victory win, thou who hast victory found! | 14 | ·····/˘····/˘· |
| Nearchus, who hast clasped in Heaven that dear, that pierced hand, | 12 | ······/····· |
| Plead that thy friend, who wrestles here, may safely by thee stand! | 14 | ·····/˘··/˘··· |
| Ye Guards, one last kind service, I would ask, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Well may ye grant it, 'tis an easy task: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| I do not seek deliverance from these thralls, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| (Looks at his chains.) | 4 | ···· |
| I do not care to scale my prison walls, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| But, since three warriors armed can surely guard | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| One fettered man in safest watch and ward, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Go one, and beg of great Severus' grace | 10 | ·········· |
| That he would deign to meet me face to face; | 10 | ·········· |
| To him would I a secret now impart, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Which much concerns his joy and peace of heart. | 10 | ··˘/······ |
| CLEON. | 1 | · |
| On willing foot, my lord, do I obey. | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| POLY. | 2 | /˘ |
| Severus must this kindly service pay; | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Ah, lose no time, time now has fleetest wings. | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| CLEON. | 1 | · |
| Full soon to thee thy prayer Severus brings. | 10 | ·········· |
| (Exit Cleon. Guardsmen retire to background.) | 10 | /˘·/˘˘/·/· |
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.