Analysis of A Demagogue

Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)



Yawp, yawp, yawp!
Under the moon and sun.
It's aye the rabble,
And I to gabble,
And hey! for the tale that is never done.

'Chant, chant, chant!
To woo the reluctant vote.
I would I were dead
And my say were said
And my song were sung to its ultimate note.

'Stab, stab, stab!
Ah! the weapon between my teeth
I'm sick of the flash of it;
See how the slash of it
Misses the foeman to mangle the sheath!

'Boom, boom, boom!
I'm beating the mammoth drum.
My nethermost tripes
I blow into the pipes
It's oh! for the honors that never come!'

'Twas the dolorous blab
Of a tramping 'scab'
'Twas the eloquent Swift
Of the marvelous gift
The wild, weird, wonderful gift of gab!


Scheme XABBA XCDDC EFGGF XHIIH EEJJE
Poetic Form Tetractys  (40%)
Metre 111 100101 11010 0111 0110111101 111 1100101 11101 01101 01101111001 111 10100111 1110111 110111 100111001 111 1100101 111 110101 1110101101 1011 10101 101001 101001 011100111
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 649
Words 131
Sentences 16
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5, 5, 5
Lines Amount 25
Letters per line (avg) 20
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 100
Words per stanza (avg) 26
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

40 sec read
45

Ambrose Bierce

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist. more…

All Ambrose Bierce poems | Ambrose Bierce Books

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