Analysis of An Actor
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
Some one ('tis hardly new) has oddly said
The color of a trumpet's blare is red;
And Joseph Emmett thinks the crimson shame
On woman's cheek a trumpet-note of fame.
The more the red storm rises round her nose
The more her eyes averted seek her toes,
He fancies all the louder he can hear
The tube resounding in his spacious ear,
And, all his varied talents to exert,
Darkens his dullness to display his dirt.
And when the gallery's indecent crowd,
And gentlemen below, with hisses loud,
In hot contention (these his art to crown,
And those his naked nastiness to drown)
Make such a din that cheeks erewhile aflame
Grow white and in their fear forget their shame,
With impudence imperial, sublime,
Unmoved, the patient actor bides his time,
Till storm and counter-storm are both allayed,
Like donkeys, each by t'other one outbrayed.
When all the place is silent as a mouse
One slow, suggestive gesture clears the house!
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFGGBBHHIAJJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111011101 010101111 0101010101 1101010111 0101110101 0101010101 1101010111 0101001101 0111010101 111010111 0101000101 0100011101 0101011111 0111010011 110111101 1100110111 11010001 0101010111 1101011101 1101111011 1101110101 1101010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 905 |
Words | 163 |
Sentences | 5 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 22 |
Lines Amount | 22 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 726 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 161 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 50 sec read
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"An Actor" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1685/an-actor>.
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