The Banishment of the Cid XXV
They heaped the spoil together. Pondered the Cid my lord,He who in happy hour had girded on the sword,How tidings of his raiding to the King would come ere long,And Alfonso soon would seek him with his host to do him wrong.He bade his spoil-dividers make a division fair,And furthermore in writing give to each man his share.The fortune of each cavalier had sped exceeding well,One hundred marks of silver to each of them there fell,And each of the foot soldiers the half of that obtained.A round fifth of the treasure for my lord the Cid remainedBut here he could not sell it, nor in gifts give it away.No captives, men or women, he desired in his array.And with the men of Castejón he spoke to this intentTo Hita and Guadalajára ambassadors he sentTo find how high the ransom of the fifth part they would rate.Even as they assessed it, his profit would be great.Three thousand marks of silver the Moors agreed to pay.The Cid was pleased. And duly was it paid on the third day.
My lord the Cid determined with all his men of warThat there within the castle they would abide no more,And that they would have held it, but that water sore it lacked:
"Ye Moors are friendly to the King; even so runs the pact,With his host will he pursue us. And I desire to fleeFrom Castejón; Minaya and my men, so hark to me;
Words in this poem
- bade
- A form of the pat tense of Bid.
- furthermore adv.
- or conj. Moreover; besides; in addition to what has been said.
- cavalier n.
- A military man serving on horseback; a knight. [F. cavalier, It. cavaliere, LL. caballarius, fr. L. caballus. See Cavalcade, and cf. Cavallier, Caballine.]
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- pact n.
- An agreement; a league; a compact; a covenant. [L. pactum, fr. paciscere to make a bargain or contract, fr. pacere to settle, or agree upon; cf. pangere to fasten, Gr. paca bond, and E. fang: cf. F. pacie. Cf]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Banishment of the Cid XXV 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 XXV, 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-xxv.html, id L15036.
Form and metre
The Banishment of the Cid XXV is 24 lines in 3 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 92% of the lines. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 80%). 86% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 13.5 syllables. 21% 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHFF lordA · swordA · longB · wrongB · fairC · shareC · wellD · fellD · obtainedE · remainedE · awayF · arrayF · intentG · sentG · rateH · greatH · payF · dayF
- 2 AA- warA · moreA · lacked
- 3 -AA pact · fleeA · meA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| They heaped the spoil together. Pondered the Cid my lord, | 13 | ····˘/˘/˘···· |
| He who in happy hour had girded on the sword, | 13 | ···/˘/˘·/˘··· |
| How tidings of his raiding to the King would come ere long, | 14 | ·/˘··/˘······· |
| And Alfonso soon would seek him with his host to do him wrong. | 15 | ··············· |
| He bade his spoil-dividers make a division fair, | 13 | ····˘/˘··˘/˘· |
| And furthermore in writing give to each man his share. | 13 | ·/˘··/˘······ |
| The fortune of each cavalier had sped exceeding well, | 14 | ·/˘···˘/··˘/˘· |
| One hundred marks of silver to each of them there fell, | 13 | ·/˘··/˘······ |
| And each of the foot soldiers the half of that obtained. | 13 | ·····/˘····˘/ |
| A round fifth of the treasure for my lord the Cid remained | 14 | ·····/˘·····˘/ |
| But here he could not sell it, nor in gifts give it away. | 14 | ············˘/ |
| No captives, men or women, he desired in his array. | 14 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/··˘/ |
| And with the men of Castejón he spoke to this intent | 14 | ············˘/ |
| To Hita and Guadalajára ambassadors he sent | 14 | ·········˘/˘·· |
| To find how high the ransom of the fifth part they would rate. | 14 | ·····/˘······· |
| Even as they assessed it, his profit would be great. | 13 | /˘··˘/··/˘··· |
| Three thousand marks of silver the Moors agreed to pay. | 13 | ·/˘··/˘··˘/·· |
| The Cid was pleased. And duly was it paid on the third day. | 14 | ·····/˘······· |
| My lord the Cid determined with all his men of war | 13 | ····˘/˘······ |
| That there within the castle they would abide no more, | 13 | ·····/˘··˘/·· |
| And that they would have held it, but that water sore it lacked: | 14 | ·········/˘··· |
| "Ye Moors are friendly to the King; even so runs the pact, | 13 | ···/˘···/···· |
| With his host will he pursue us. And I desire to flee | 14 | ·····˘/···˘/·· |
| From Castejón; Minaya and my men, so hark to me; | 13 | ············· |
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.