Act I: Scene III
JOSABET.Dear Zachariah, go, without delay;Accompany your noble father's steps.Daughters of Levi, young and faithful band,Whom now the Lord hath chosen for their zeal,That come so frequently to share my sighs:Children, my only joy in my long griefs,Those flowers upon your heads, and in your handsThose garlands were appropriate, formerly,At our great festivals; but now, alas!In these opprobious and afflicting times,What offering so comely as our tears?I hear, already, hear the sacred trumpet,And soon the temple will be open to us.Whilst I prepare myself for the occasion,Sing to the Lord, whom you have come to seek.
Words in this poem
- afflicting a.
- Grievously painful; distressing; afflictive; as, an afflicting event.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act I: Scene III is in the public domain. This text is taken from Athaliah: A Tragedy, Project Gutenberg ebook #21967, the J. Donkersley 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: Jean Racine, Act I: Scene III, in Athaliah: A Tragedy (1873), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21967, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/racine-athaliah/act-i-scene-iii.html, id L26956.
Form and metre
Act I: Scene III is 16 lines in a single stanza. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 86%).
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.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| JOSABET. | 3 | ··· |
| Dear Zachariah, go, without delay; | 10 | ··˘/˘···˘/ |
| Accompany your noble father's steps. | 10 | ˘/˘˘·/˘/˘· |
| Daughters of Levi, young and faithful band, | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| Whom now the Lord hath chosen for their zeal, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| That come so frequently to share my sighs: | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Children, my only joy in my long griefs, | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| Those flowers upon your heads, and in your hands | 10 | ·/········ |
| Those garlands were appropriate, formerly, | 11 | ·/˘·˘/˘·/˘˘ |
| At our great festivals; but now, alas! | 10 | ·/·/˘˘··˘/ |
| In these opprobious and afflicting times, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| What offering so comely as our tears? | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘·/· |
| I hear, already, hear the sacred trumpet, | 11 | ··˘/˘··/˘/˘ |
| And soon the temple will be open to us. | 11 | ···/˘··/˘·· |
| Whilst I prepare myself for the occasion, | 11 | ··˘/·/··˘/˘ |
| Sing to the Lord, whom you have come to seek. | 10 | ·········· |
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.