Analysis of A Welcome
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
Because you call yourself Knights Templar, and
There's neither Knight nor Temple in the land,
Because you thus by vain pretense degrade
To paltry purposes traditions grand,
Because to cheat the ignorant you say
The thing that's not, elated still to sway
The crass credulity of gaping fools
And women by fantastical display,
Because no sacred fires did ever warm
Your hearts, high knightly service to perform
A woman's breast or coffer of a man
The only citadel you dare to storm,
Because while railing still at lord and peer,
At pomp and fuss-and-feathers while you jeer,
Each member of your order tries to graft
A peacock's tail upon his barren rear,
Because that all these things are thus and so,
I bid you welcome to our city. Lo!
You're free to come, and free to stay, and free
As soon as it shall please you, sirs-to go.
Scheme | XAXA BBXB CCXC DDXD EEXE |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) Etheree (20%) Quatrain (20%) |
Metre | 0111011100 1101110001 0111110101 1101000101 0111010011 0111010111 0101001101 0101101 01110101101 1111010101 0101110101 010101111 0111011101 1101010111 1101110111 011011101 0111111101 11110110101 1111011101 1111111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 814 |
Words | 150 |
Sentences | 4 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 131 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 30 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 46 sec read
- 94 Views
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