The Andrian: Act the First: Scene IV
I hear, Archyllis; I hear what you say:You beg me to bring Lesbia. By my trothThat Lesbia is a drunken wretch, hot-headed,Nor worthy to be trusted with a womanIn her first labor. Well, well! she shall come.--Observe how earnest the old gossip is, (Coming forward)Because this Lesbia is her pot-companion.--Oh grant my mistress, Heav'n, a safe delivery,And let the midwife trespass any whereRather than here!--But what is it I see?Pamphilus all disorder'd: How I fearThe cause! I'll wait a while, that I may knowIf this commotion means us any ill.
Words in this poem
- troth n.
- Belief; faith; fidelity. [A variant of truth. See Truth.]
- 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,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Andrian: Act the First: Scene IV is in the public domain. This text is taken from The Comedies of Terence, Project Gutenberg ebook #22695; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Terence, The Andrian: Act the First: Scene IV, in The Comedies of Terence (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22695, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/terence-comedies/the-andrian-act-the-first-scene-iv.html, id L25720.
Form and metre
The Andrian: Act the First: Scene IV is 13 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.
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-A-- say · troth · headed · woman · come · forward · companion · delivery · whereA · see · fearA · know · ill
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I hear, Archyllis; I hear what you say: | 10 | ·········· |
| You beg me to bring Lesbia. By my troth | 10 | ·········· |
| That Lesbia is a drunken wretch, hot-headed, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Nor worthy to be trusted with a woman | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| In her first labor. Well, well! she shall come. | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| --Observe how earnest the old gossip is, (Coming forward) | 14 | ˘/·/˘··/˘·/˘/˘ |
| Because this Lesbia is her pot-companion. | 11 | ········˘/˘ |
| --Oh grant my mistress, Heav'n, a safe delivery, | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| And let the midwife trespass any where | 10 | ···/·/·/˘· |
| Rather than here!--But what is it I see? | 10 | /˘········ |
| Pamphilus all disorder'd: How I fear | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| The cause! I'll wait a while, that I may know | 10 | ·········· |
| If this commotion means us any ill. | 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.