The Step-Mother: Act the Fourth: Scene I
MYRR. What shall I do?--Confusion!--which way turn?Alas! what answer shall I make my husband?For I dare say he heard the infant's cries,He ran so hastily, without a word,Into my daughter's chamber. If he findsThat she has been deliver'd, what excuseTo make, for having thus conceal'd her labor,I can't devise.--But our door creaks!--'tis he.I am undone.
Words in this poem
- 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,]
- undone a.
- Not done or performed; neglected. [Pref. un- not + done.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Step-Mother: Act the Fourth: 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 Fourth: 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-fourth-scene-i.html, id L25872.
Form and metre
The Step-Mother: Act the Fourth: Scene I is 9 lines in a single stanza. 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 |
|---|---|---|
| MYRR. What shall I do?--Confusion!--which way turn? | 11 | ·····˘/˘··· |
| Alas! what answer shall I make my husband? | 11 | ˘/·/˘····/˘ |
| For I dare say he heard the infant's cries, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| He ran so hastily, without a word, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| Into my daughter's chamber. If he finds | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| That she has been deliver'd, what excuse | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| To make, for having thus conceal'd her labor, | 11 | ···/˘·˘/·/˘ |
| I can't devise.--But our door creaks!--'tis he. | 10 | ··˘/·/···· |
| I am undone. | 4 | ··˘/ |
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.