The Banishment of the Cid XLIV
So was it, and Minaya went at the break of day.But there behind the Campeador abode with all his band.And waste was all the country, an exceeding barren land.Each day upon my lord the Cid there in that place they spied,The Moors that dwelt on the frontier and outlanders beside.Healed was King Fáriz. With him they held a council there,The folk that dwelt in Teca and the townsmen of Terrér,And the people of Calatayúd, of the three the fairest town.In such wise have they valued it and on parchment set it downThat for silver marks three thousand Alcocér the Cid did sell.
Words in this poem
- went n.
- Course; way; path; journey; direction.
- abode n.
- Act of waiting; delay. [OE. abad, abood, fr. abiden to abide. See Abide. For the change of vowel, cf. abode, imp. of abide.]
- folk n.
- In Anglo-Saxon times, the people of a group of townships or villages; a community; a tribe. [AS. folc; akin to D. volk, OS. & OHG. folk, G. volk, Icel. f, Sw. & Dan. folk, Lith. pulkas crowd, and perh. to E. follow.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Banishment of the Cid XLIV is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Lay of the Cid, Project Gutenberg ebook #6088, the R. Selden Rose and Leonard Bacon 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: Anonymous, The Banishment of the Cid XLIV, in The Lay of the Cid (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6088, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lay-of-the-cid/the-banishment-of-the-cid-xliv.html, id L15053.
Form and metre
The Banishment of the Cid XLIV is 10 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 60% of the lines. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 92% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 14.1 syllables. 10% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in iambic heptameter.
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 -AABB--CC- day · bandA · landA · spiedB · besideB · there · terrér · townC · downC · sell
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 heptameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| So was it, and Minaya went at the break of day. | 12 | ············ |
| But there behind the Campeador abode with all his band. | 14 | ········˘/···· |
| And waste was all the country, an exceeding barren land. | 14 | ·····/˘·˘/˘/˘· |
| Each day upon my lord the Cid there in that place they spied, | 14 | ·············· |
| The Moors that dwelt on the frontier and outlanders beside. | 14 | ······˘/····˘/ |
| Healed was King Fáriz. With him they held a council there, | 14 | ·˘·········/˘· |
| The folk that dwelt in Teca and the townsmen of Terrér, | 14 | ·············· |
| And the people of Calatayúd, of the three the fairest town. | 15 | ··/˘········/˘· |
| In such wise have they valued it and on parchment set it down | 15 | ·····/˘···/˘··· |
| That for silver marks three thousand Alcocér the Cid did sell. | 15 | ··/˘··/˘······· |
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.