The Spanish Student: Act I, continued
The nuns in the cloisterSang to each other;For so many sistersIs there not one brother!Ay, for the partridge, mother!The cat has run away with the partridge!Puss! puss! puss!
Bart. Follow that! follow that!Come with me. Puss! puss!
Lara. The gate is fast. Over the wall, Francisco,And draw the bolt. There, so, and so, and over.Now, gentlemen, come in, and help me scaleYon balcony. How now? Her light still burns.Move warily. Make fast the gate, Francisco.Dol. She sleeps at last!
All silent in the street,And in the garden. Hark!
Prec. (in her sleep). I must go hence!Give me my cloak!Dol. He comes! I hear his footsteps.
Prec. Go tell them that I cannot dance to-night;I am too ill! Look at me! See the feverThat burns upon my cheek! I must go hence.I am too weak to dance.
Dol. (from the window). Who's there?
Dol. I will undo the door. Wait till I come.
Prec. I must go hence. I pray you do not harm me!Shame! shame! to treat a feeble woman thus!Be you but kind, I will do all things for you.I'm ready now,--give me my castanets.Where is Victorian? Oh, those hateful lamps!They glare upon me like an evil eye.I cannot stay. Hark! how they mock at me!They hiss at me like serpents! Save me! save me!
Dol. It is midnight.
Prec. We must be patient. Smooth this pillow for me.
Words in this poem
- puss n.
- A cat; -- a fondling appellation. [Cf. D. poes, Ir. & Gael. pus.]
- warily adv.
- In a wary manner.
- victorian a.
- Of or pertaining to the reign of Queen Victoria of England; as, the Victorian poets. Victorian period. See Dionysian period, under Dyonysian.
- hateful a.
- Manifesting hate or hatred; malignant; malevolent.
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Spanish Student: Act I, continued 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, The Spanish Student: Act I, continued, in A Psalm of Life, and Other Poems (1839–1882), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #1365, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/longfellow-poems/the-spanish-student-act-i-continued.html, id L25663.
Form and metre
The Spanish Student: Act I, continued is 36 lines in 11 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 84%).
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.
- 1 -A-AA-- cloister · otherA · sisters · brotherA · motherA · partridge · puss
- 3 A---A- franciscoA · over · scale · burns · franciscoA · last
- 9 A----AAA meA · thus · you · castanets · lamps · eyeA · meA · 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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The nuns in the cloister | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Sang to each other; | 5 | ···/˘ |
| For so many sisters | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| Is there not one brother! | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Ay, for the partridge, mother! | 7 | ···/˘/˘ |
| The cat has run away with the partridge! | 10 | ····˘/··/˘ |
| Puss! puss! puss! | 3 | ··· |
| Bart. Follow that! follow that! | 7 | ·/˘·/˘· |
| Come with me. Puss! puss! | 5 | ····· |
| Lara. The gate is fast. Over the wall, Francisco, | 12 | /˘·······˘/˘ |
| And draw the bolt. There, so, and so, and over. | 10 | ·········· |
| Now, gentlemen, come in, and help me scale | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Yon balcony. How now? Her light still burns. | 9 | ·/˘······ |
| Move warily. Make fast the gate, Francisco. | 10 | ·/˘····˘/˘ |
| Dol. She sleeps at last! | 5 | ····· |
| All silent in the street, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| And in the garden. Hark! | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Prec. (in her sleep). I must go hence! | 8 | ········ |
| Give me my cloak! | 4 | ···· |
| Dol. He comes! I hear his footsteps. | 8 | ······/· |
| Prec. Go tell them that I cannot dance to-night; | 11 | ······/˘··· |
| I am too ill! Look at me! See the fever | 11 | ·········/˘ |
| That burns upon my cheek! I must go hence. | 10 | ·········· |
| I am too weak to dance. | 6 | ······ |
| Dol. (from the window). Who's there? | 7 | ···/˘·· |
| Dol. I will undo the door. Wait till I come. | 11 | ···˘/······ |
| Prec. I must go hence. I pray you do not harm me! | 12 | ············ |
| Shame! shame! to treat a feeble woman thus! | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Be you but kind, I will do all things for you. | 11 | ··········· |
| I'm ready now,--give me my castanets. | 10 | ·/˘····/˘˘ |
| Where is Victorian? Oh, those hateful lamps! | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| They glare upon me like an evil eye. | 9 | ·······/· |
| I cannot stay. Hark! how they mock at me! | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| They hiss at me like serpents! Save me! save me! | 11 | ·····/˘···· |
| Dol. It is midnight. | 5 | ···/· |
| Prec. We must be patient. Smooth this pillow for me. | 12 | ····/˘··/˘·· |
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.