The Step-Mother: Act the Second: Scene III
SOSTRA. How unjustlyDo husbands stretch their censures to all wivesFor the offenses of a few, whose vicesReflect dishonor on the rest!--For, HeavenSo help me, as I'm wholly innocentOf what my husband now accuses me!But 'tis no easy task to clear myself;So fix'd and rooted is the notion in them,That Step-Mothers are all severe.--Not I;For I have ever lov'd PhilumenaAs my own daughter; nor can I conceiveWhat accident has drawn her hatred on me.My son's return, I hope, will settle all;And, ah, I've too much cause to wish his coming. (Exit.
HarperFor the offenses of a few, whose vicesReflect dishonor on the rest!--For, HeavenSo help me, as I'm wholly innocentColman 1768Because of the offences of a few,Whose faults reflect dishonour on the rest!
Words in this poem
- harper n.
- A player on the harp; a minstrel. [AS. hearpere.]
- dishonour n.
- Lack of honor; disgrace; ignominy; shame; reproach. [OE. deshonour, dishonour, OF. deshonor, deshonur, F. déshonneur; pref. des- (L. dis-) + honor, honur, F. honneur, fr. L. honor. See Honor.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Step-Mother: Act the Second: Scene III 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 Second: Scene III, in The Comedies of Terence (1765), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #22695, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/terence-comedies/the-step-mother-act-the-second-scene-iii.html, id L25861.
Form and metre
The Step-Mother: Act the Second: Scene III is 21 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
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--A-- unjustly · wives · vices · heaven · innocent · meA · myself · them · iA · philumena · conceive · meA · all · exit
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 |
|---|---|---|
| SOSTRA. How unjustly | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| Do husbands stretch their censures to all wives | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| For the offenses of a few, whose vices | 11 | ··˘/˘····/˘ |
| Reflect dishonor on the rest!--For, Heaven | 11 | ˘/˘/˘····/˘ |
| So help me, as I'm wholly innocent | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| Of what my husband now accuses me! | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| But 'tis no easy task to clear myself; | 10 | ···/˘····/ |
| So fix'd and rooted is the notion in them, | 11 | ···/˘··/˘·· |
| That Step-Mothers are all severe.--Not I; | 10 | ··/˘··˘/·· |
| For I have ever lov'd Philumena | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| As my own daughter; nor can I conceive | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| What accident has drawn her hatred on me. | 10 | ·/˘···/˘·· |
| My son's return, I hope, will settle all; | 10 | ··˘/···/˘· |
| And, ah, I've too much cause to wish his coming. (Exit. | 13 | ·········/˘/˘ |
| Harper | 2 | /˘ |
| For the offenses of a few, whose vices | 11 | ··˘/˘····/˘ |
| Reflect dishonor on the rest!--For, Heaven | 11 | ˘/˘/˘····/˘ |
| So help me, as I'm wholly innocent | 10 | ·····/˘/˘˘ |
| Colman 1768 | 2 | /˘ |
| Because of the offences of a few, | 10 | ·········· |
| Whose faults reflect dishonour on the rest! | 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.