Act V: Scene III
JOAD.Great God! Thy hour is come, they bring Thy prey!Ishmael, listen. (Speaks low to him.)
JOSABET.Mighty Master of the heavens!Re-bind on her the veil which wrapt her eyes,When rendering all her crimes abortive, ThouConceal'dst that tender victim in my bosom!
JOAD.Go, prudent Ishmael, lose not any time,Follow my grave instructions, step by step;And, above all, let everything presentTo her, upon her entry and her way,The picture of a calm profound. You, children,Prepare a throne for Joas. Let him advance,Accompanied by our sacred combatants;And also cause his faithful nurse to come,Princess, and let your tears cease flowing.
(To a Levite.)You, when the queen with mad presumption drunk,Has passed the threshold of the temple's doors,That she no more be able to return,Take care that instantly the warlike trumpetShall spread a sudden consternation throughThe enemy's camp; then call upon the peopleTo the support of Judah's king, and letThe marvellous prodigy of Joas preservedResound upon the ear. He comes.
Words in this poem
- princess n.
- A female prince; a woman having sovereign power, or the rank of a prince. [F. princesse. See Prince, and cf. Princesse.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- consternation n.
- Amazement or horror that confounds the faculties, and incapacitates for refletion; terror, combined with amaxement; dismay. [L. consternatio, fr. consternare to overome, perplex, an accessory form of consternere to trow down, prostrate; con + sternere to spread out, throw down: cf. F.]
- prodigy n.
- Something extraordinary, or out of the usual course of nature, from which omens are drawn; a portent; as, eclipses and meteors were anciently deemed prodigies. [L. prodigium; pro before + (perh.) a word appearing in adagium adage: cf. F. prodige. Cf. Adage.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Act V: 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 V: Scene III, in Athaliah: A Tragedy (1873), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #21967, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/racine-athaliah/act-v-scene-iii.html, id L26978.
Form and metre
Act V: Scene III is 28 lines in 4 stanzas. 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.
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.
- 4 ----A--A-- levite · drunk · doors · return · trumpetA · through · people · letA · preserved · comes
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 |
|---|---|---|
| JOAD. | 1 | · |
| Great God! Thy hour is come, they bring Thy prey! | 10 | ···/······ |
| Ishmael, listen. (Speaks low to him.) | 8 | /˘/˘···· |
| JOSABET. | 3 | ··· |
| Mighty Master of the heavens! | 8 | /˘/˘··/˘ |
| Re-bind on her the veil which wrapt her eyes, | 10 | ·········· |
| When rendering all her crimes abortive, Thou | 10 | ·/˘···˘/˘· |
| Conceal'dst that tender victim in my bosom! | 11 | ···/˘/˘··/˘ |
| JOAD. | 1 | · |
| Go, prudent Ishmael, lose not any time, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Follow my grave instructions, step by step; | 10 | /˘··˘/˘··· |
| And, above all, let everything present | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| To her, upon her entry and her way, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| The picture of a calm profound. You, children, | 11 | ·/˘···˘/·/˘ |
| Prepare a throne for Joas. Let him advance, | 10 | ˘/······˘/ |
| Accompanied by our sacred combatants; | 11 | ˘/˘˘·//˘˘/˘ |
| And also cause his faithful nurse to come, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| Princess, and let your tears cease flowing. | 9 | /˘·····/˘ |
| (To a Levite.) | 4 | ··/˘ |
| You, when the queen with mad presumption drunk, | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| Has passed the threshold of the temple's doors, | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| That she no more be able to return, | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| Take care that instantly the warlike trumpet | 11 | ···/˘˘·/·/˘ |
| Shall spread a sudden consternation through | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| The enemy's camp; then call upon the people | 11 | ·/˘······/˘ |
| To the support of Judah's king, and let | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| The marvellous prodigy of Joas preserved | 10 | ····/˘··˘/ |
| Resound upon the ear. He comes. | 8 | ·/······ |
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