Explore "The Lamp and the Bell" by Edna St. Vincent Millay on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
[The court-room in the palace at Fiori, extremely crowded with restless / and expectant people. The crowd is arranged on both sides of the stage, / in such a way that a broad avenue is left in the middle, leading from / the footlights to the back of the stage and gradually narrowing to a / point at Beatrice's throne. On the extreme right and left of the stage, / along the back of the crowd, stands the guard, a large body of armed / soldiers, at attention, in double row. On either side the throne stands / an armed soldier. As the curtain rises the court is all standing and / looking off stage in a certain direction. Enter the Queen, Beatrice, / from that direction, walks in, looking straight ahead, goes to the / throne and seats herself. The court sits. The clerk begins to read.]
CLERK. The first case to be heard is that of Lisa, / A widow with two small children, who resides / Near the Duke's wood, and has been caught in the act / Of cutting trees there, and hauling them home to burn.