The Step-Mother: Act the Fifth: Scene I
I' faith my master holds my labor cheap,To send me to the Citadel for nothing,Where I have waited the whole day in vainFor his Myconian, Callidemides.There was I sitting, gaping like a fool,And running up, if any one appear'd,--"Are you, Sir, a Myconian?"--"No, not I."------"But your name's Callidemides?"--"Not it."----"And have not you a guest here of the nameOf Pamphilus?"--All answer'd, No.In short, I don't believe there's such a man.At last I grew asham'd, and so sneak'd off.--But is't not Bacchis that I see come forthFrom our new kinsman? What can she do there?
HarperOf Pamphilus?"--All answer'd, No.Colman 1768
Words in this poem
- kinsman n.
- A man of the same race or family; one related by blood.
- harper n.
- A player on the harp; a minstrel. [AS. hearpere.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Step-Mother: Act the Fifth: Scene I 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 Step-Mother: Act the Fifth: Scene I, in The Comedies of Terence (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22695, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/terence-comedies/the-step-mother-act-the-fifth-scene-i.html, id L25881.
Form and metre
The Step-Mother: Act the Fifth: Scene I is 17 lines in 2 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.
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' faith my master holds my labor cheap, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| To send me to the Citadel for nothing, | 11 | ·····/˘··/˘ |
| Where I have waited the whole day in vain | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| For his Myconian, Callidemides. | 9 | ········· |
| There was I sitting, gaping like a fool, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| And running up, if any one appear'd, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| --"Are you, Sir, a Myconian?"--"No, not I."---- | 10 | ·········· |
| --"But your name's Callidemides?"--"Not it."---- | 9 | ········· |
| "And have not you a guest here of the name | 10 | ·········· |
| Of Pamphilus?"--All answer'd, No. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| In short, I don't believe there's such a man. | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| At last I grew asham'd, and so sneak'd off. | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| --But is't not Bacchis that I see come forth | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| From our new kinsman? What can she do there? | 10 | ·/·/······ |
| Harper | 2 | /˘ |
| Of Pamphilus?"--All answer'd, No. | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Colman 1768 | 2 | /˘ |
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.