Act V
SCENE I. -- COREy's farm as in Act II., Scene I. Enter RICHARDGARDNER, looking round him.
Here stands the house as I remember it.The four tall poplar-trees before the door;The house, the barn, the orchard, and the well,With its moss-covered bucket and its trough;The garden, with its hedge of currant-bushes;The woods, the harvest-fields; and, far beyond,The pleasant landscape stretching to the sea.But everything is silent and deserted!No bleat of flocks, no bellowing of herds,No sound of flails, that should be beating now;Nor man nor beast astir. What can this mean?
What ho! Giles Corey! Hillo-ho! Giles Corey!--No answer but the echo from the barn,And the ill-omened cawing of the crow,That yonder wings his flight across the fields,As if he scented carrion in the air.
What woman's this, that, like an apparition,Haunts this deserted homestead in broad day?Woman, who are you?
I'm Tituba.I am John Indian's wife. I am a Witch.
What are you doing here?
I am gathering herbs,--Cinquefoil, and saxifrage, and pennyroyal.
GARDNER (looking at the herbs).This is not cinquefoil, it is deadly nightshade!This is not saxifrage, but hellebore!This is not pennyroyal, it is henbane!Do you come here to poison these good people?
I get these for the Doctor in the Village.Beware of Tituba. I pinch the children;Make little poppets and stick pins in them,And then the children cry out they are pricked.The Black Dog came to me and said, "Serve me!"I was afraid. He made me hurt the children.
Poor soul! She's crazed, with all these Devil's doings.
Will you, sir, sign the book?
No, I'll not sign it.Where is Giles Corey? Do you know Giles Corey!
He's safe enough. He's down there in the prison.
Corey in prison? What is he accused of?
Giles Corey and Martha Corey are in prisonDown there in Salem Village. Both are witches.She came to me and whispered, "Kill the children!"Both signed the Book!
Words in this poem
- bleat v. i.
- To make the noise of, or one like that of, a sheep; to cry like a sheep or calf. [OE. bleten, AS. bl; akin to D. blaten, bleeten, OHG. blazan, plazan; prob. of imitative origin.]
- astir adv.
- Stirring; in a state of activity or motion; out of bed. [Pref. a- + stir.]
- yonder adv.
- At a distance, but within view. [OE. yonder, ýonder; cf. OD. ginder, Goth. jaindr there. Yond, adv.]
- cinquefoil n.
- The name of several different species of the genus Potentilla; -- also called five-finger, because of the resemblance of its leaves to the fingers of the hand. [Cinque five + foil, F. feuille leaf. See Foil.]
- pennyroyal n.
- An aromatic herb (Mentha Pulegium) of Europe; also, a North American plant (Hedeoma pulegioides) resembling it in flavor. Bastard pennyroyal (Bot.) See Blue curls, under Blue. [A corruption of OE. puliall royal. OE. puliall is ultimately derived fr. L. puleium, or pulegium regium (so called as being good against fleas), fr. pulex a fle]
- henbane n.
- A plant of the genus Hyoscyamus (H. niger). All parts of the plant are poisonous, and the leaves are used for the same purposes as belladonna. It is poisonous to domestic fowls; whence the name. [Hen + bane.]
- beware v. t.
- To avoid; to take care of; to have a care for.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act V is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Complete Poetical Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Project Gutenberg ebook #1365; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Act V, in The Complete Poetical Works (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/act-v.html, id L17984.
Form and metre
Act V is 47 lines in 15 verse paragraphs. It is unrhymed, as far as the pronouncing dictionary can tell. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%). 95% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 9.6 syllables. 16 lines end on an unstressed syllable, a feminine ending.
See other poems in iambic pentameter, other poems in blank verse.
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.
- 9 -A---A village · childrenA · them · pricked · me · childrenA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| SCENE I. -- COREy's farm as in Act II., Scene I. Enter RICHARD | 15 | ··/˘·······/˘/˘ |
| GARDNER, looking round him. | 6 | /˘/˘·· |
| Here stands the house as I remember it. | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| The four tall poplar-trees before the door; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The house, the barn, the orchard, and the well, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| With its moss-covered bucket and its trough; | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The garden, with its hedge of currant-bushes; | 11 | ·/˘····/˘/˘ |
| The woods, the harvest-fields; and, far beyond, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The pleasant landscape stretching to the sea. | 10 | ·/˘/·/˘··· |
| But everything is silent and deserted! | 11 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/˘ |
| No bleat of flocks, no bellowing of herds, | 10 | ·····/˘˘·· |
| No sound of flails, that should be beating now; | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Nor man nor beast astir. What can this mean? | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| What ho! Giles Corey! Hillo-ho! Giles Corey!-- | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| No answer but the echo from the barn, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And the ill-omened cawing of the crow, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| That yonder wings his flight across the fields, | 10 | ·/˘···˘/·· |
| As if he scented carrion in the air. | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| What woman's this, that, like an apparition, | 11 | ·/˘·····˘/˘ |
| Haunts this deserted homestead in broad day? | 10 | ··˘/˘/···· |
| Woman, who are you? | 5 | /˘··· |
| I'm Tituba. | 4 | ···· |
| I am John Indian's wife. I am a Witch. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| What are you doing here? | 6 | ···/˘· |
| I am gathering herbs,-- | 6 | ··/˘˘· |
| Cinquefoil, and saxifrage, and pennyroyal. | 10 | /˘·/˘˘···· |
| GARDNER (looking at the herbs). | 7 | /˘/˘··· |
| This is not cinquefoil, it is deadly nightshade! | 11 | ···/˘··/˘/· |
| This is not saxifrage, but hellebore! | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘˘ |
| This is not pennyroyal, it is henbane! | 10 | ········/· |
| Do you come here to poison these good people? | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| I get these for the Doctor in the Village. | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Beware of Tituba. I pinch the children; | 11 | ˘/·······/˘ |
| Make little poppets and stick pins in them, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| And then the children cry out they are pricked. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The Black Dog came to me and said, "Serve me!" | 10 | ·········· |
| I was afraid. He made me hurt the children. | 11 | ··˘/·····/˘ |
| Poor soul! She's crazed, with all these Devil's doings. | 11 | ·······/˘/˘ |
| Will you, sir, sign the book? | 6 | ······ |
| No, I'll not sign it. | 5 | ····· |
| Where is Giles Corey? Do you know Giles Corey! | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| He's safe enough. He's down there in the prison. | 11 | ··˘/·····/˘ |
| Corey in prison? What is he accused of? | 11 | /˘·/˘···˘/· |
| Giles Corey and Martha Corey are in prison | 12 | ·/˘·/˘/˘··/˘ |
| Down there in Salem Village. Both are witches. | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| She came to me and whispered, "Kill the children!" | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Both signed the Book! | 4 | ···· |
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.