The Marriage of the Cid's Daughters LXXVIII
Of these things while they were joyous, came thither from theEast,A clerk, the Bishop don Jerome, so all men called that priest.Excelling was his knowledge, and prudent was his rede,'Twas a mighty man of valor afoot or on the steed.Of the Cid's deeds the tidings he was seeking to procure,And he yearned sore, ever sighing for battle with the Moor.If his fill of fight and wounding with his hands he e'er shouldget,Therefore a Christian never need have reason for regret.When my lord the Cid had heard it, he was well pleased thereby:
"Hark, Minaya Alvar Fañez, by him who is on high,When the Lord God would aid us, let us give Him thanks again. .Round Valencia a bishopric to stablish I am fain,And I will further give it unto this Christian leal.Thou shalt bear with thee good tidings when thou goest toCastile."
Words in this poem
- clerk n.
- A clergyman or ecclesiastic. [Either OF. clerc, fr. L. clericus a priest, or AS. clerc, cleric, clerk, priest, fr. L. clericus, fr. Gr. Clergy.]
- rede v. t.
- To advise or counsel. [See Read, v. t.]
- steed n.
- A horse, especially a spirited horse for state of war; -- used chiefly in poetry or stately prose. [OE. stede, AS. steda a stud-horse, war horse, fr. stod a stud of breeding steeds; akin to G. stute a mare, Icel. stedda, sto, a stud. *163. See Stud of horses.]
- valencia n.
- A kind of woven fabric for waistcoats, having the weft of wool and the warp of silk or cotton. [Perhaps fr. Valence in France.]
- bishopric n.
- A diocese; the district over which the jurisdiction of a bishop extends. [AS. bisceoprice; bisceop bishop + rice dominion. See -ric.]
- stablish v. t.
- To settle permanently in a state; to make firm; to establish; to fix. 2 Sam. vii. 13. [Aphetic form of establish.]
- fain v. t.
- To be glad ; to wish or desire.
- leal a.
- Faithful; loyal; true. [OE. leial, another form of loial, F. loyal. See Loyal.]
- shalt
- 2d per. sing. of Shall.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Marriage of the Cid's Daughters LXXVIII 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 Marriage of the Cid's Daughters LXXVIII, in The Lay of the Cid (1919), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #6088, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/lay-of-the-cid/the-marriage-of-the-cid-s-daughters-lxxviii.html, id L15084.
Form and metre
The Marriage of the Cid's Daughters LXXVIII is 17 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic heptameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 78%). 86% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 11.5 syllables. 18% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See 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 -AABBCC-DD- the · eastA · priestA · redeB · steedB · procureC · moorC · should · getD · regretD · thereby
- 2 -AA--- high · againA · fainA · leal · to · castile
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Of these things while they were joyous, came thither from the | 13 | ······/˘·/˘·· |
| East, | 1 | · |
| A clerk, the Bishop don Jerome, so all men called that priest. | 14 | ···/˘·˘/······ |
| Excelling was his knowledge, and prudent was his rede, | 13 | ˘/˘··/˘·/˘··· |
| 'Twas a mighty man of valor afoot or on the steed. | 14 | ··/˘··/˘˘/···· |
| Of the Cid's deeds the tidings he was seeking to procure, | 14 | ·····/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| And he yearned sore, ever sighing for battle with the Moor. | 14 | ····/˘/˘·/˘··· |
| If his fill of fight and wounding with his hands he e'er should | 14 | ······/˘······ |
| get, | 1 | · |
| Therefore a Christian never need have reason for regret. | 14 | ···/˘/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| When my lord the Cid had heard it, he was well pleased thereby: | 14 | ·············· |
| "Hark, Minaya Alvar Fañez, by him who is on high, | 13 | ············· |
| When the Lord God would aid us, let us give Him thanks again. . | 14 | ············˘/ |
| Round Valencia a bishopric to stablish I am fain, | 14 | ·˘/˘·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| And I will further give it unto this Christian leal. | 13 | ···/˘·····/˘· |
| Thou shalt bear with thee good tidings when thou goest to | 12 | ······/˘···· |
| Castile." | 3 | ··· |
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.