Act IV: Scene IV and V
JOSABET (embracing Joas).O king, offspring of David!
JOAS.My only mother! Come, dear Zachariah,Embrace me.
JOSABET (to Zachariah).My son, prostrate yourself before your king.
JOAD (whilst they embrace.)Children, may thus your hearts be always one.
JOSABET (to Joas).You know then to what source you owe your life?
JOAS.And also know the hand, which, but for you,Had robbed me of it.
JOSABET.I then can call you by your own name, Joas.
JOAS.Joas will never cease to love you.
THE CHOIR.What! is it--
JOSABET.It is Joas.
JOAD.Let us hear that Levite.
About this text
Act IV: Scene IV and V 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 IV: Scene IV and V, in Athaliah: A Tragedy (1873), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21967, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/racine-athaliah/act-iv-scene-iv-and-v.html, id L26973.
Form and metre
Act IV: Scene IV and V is 24 lines in 11 stanzas. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
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 (embracing Joas). | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| O king, offspring of David! | 7 | ··/··/˘ |
| JOAS. | 1 | · |
| My only mother! Come, dear Zachariah, | 11 | ·/˘/˘···˘/˘ |
| Embrace me. | 3 | ˘/· |
| JOSABET (to Zachariah). | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| My son, prostrate yourself before your king. | 10 | ··/˘/˘···· |
| JOAD (whilst they embrace.) | 5 | ···˘/ |
| Children, may thus your hearts be always one. | 10 | /˘·····/·· |
| JOSABET (to Joas). | 5 | ····· |
| You know then to what source you owe your life? | 10 | ·········· |
| JOAS. | 1 | · |
| And also know the hand, which, but for you, | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Had robbed me of it. | 5 | ····· |
| JOSABET. | 3 | ··· |
| I then can call you by your own name, Joas. | 10 | ·········· |
| JOAS. | 1 | · |
| Joas will never cease to love you. | 8 | ··/˘···· |
| THE CHOIR. | 3 | ·/˘ |
| What! is it-- | 3 | ··· |
| JOSABET. | 3 | ··· |
| It is Joas. | 3 | ··· |
| JOAD. | 1 | · |
| Let us hear that Levite. | 6 | ····/˘ |
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.