Analysis of A Silurian Holiday

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



'Tis Master Fitch, the editor;
He takes an holiday.
Now wherefore, venerable sir,
So resolutely gay?

He lifts his head, he laughs aloud,
Odzounds! 'tis drear to see!
'Because the Boodle-Scribbler crowd
Will soon be far from me.

'Full many a year I've striven well
To freeze the caitiffs out
By making this good town a Hell,
But still they hang about.

'They maken mouths and eke they grin
At the dollar limit game;
And they are holpen in that sin
By many a wicked dame.

'In sylvan bowers hence I'll dwell
My bruised mind to ease.
Farewell, ye urban scenes, farewell!
Hail, unfamiliar trees!'

Forth Master Fitch did bravely hie,
And all the country folk
Besought him that he come not nigh
The deadly poison oak!

He smiled a cheerful smile (the day
Was straightway overcast)
The poison oak along his way
Was blighted as he passed!


Scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH EIEI XJXJ BKBK
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 11010100 11110 1110001 11001 11111101 11111 01010101 111111 110011101 11011 11011101 111101 1110111 1010101 0111011 1100101 01010111 11111 111011 10101 11011101 010101 1111111 010101 11010101 1110 01010111 110111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 808
Words 151
Sentences 13
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 23
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 92
Words per stanza (avg) 21
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

45 sec read
88

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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