Analysis of Convalescent [What! 'Out of danger?' Can the slighted Dame]
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
What! 'Out of danger?' Can the slighted Dame
Or canting Pharisee no more defame?
Will Treachery caress my hand no more,
Nor Hatred He alurk about my door?
Ingratitude, with benefits dismissed,
Not close the loaded palm to make a fist?
Will Envy henceforth not retaliate
For virtues it were vain to emulate?
Will Ignorance my knowledge fail to scout,
Not understanding what 'tis all about,
Yet feeling in its light so mean and small
That all his little soul is turned to gall?
What! 'Out of danger?' Jealousy disarmed?
Greed from exaction magically charmed?
Ambition stayed from trampling whom it meets,
Like horses fugitive in crowded streets?
The Bigot, with his candle, book and bell,
Tongue-tied, unlunged and paralyzed as well?
The Critic righteously to justice haled,
His own ear to the post securely nailed
What most he dreads unable to inflict,
And powerless to hawk the faults he's picked?
The liar choked upon his choicest lie,
And impotent alike to villify
Or flatter for the gold of thrifty men
Who hate his person but employ his pen
Who love and loathe, respectively, the dirt
Belonging to his character and shirt?
What! 'Out of danger?'-Nature's minions all,
Like hounds returning to the huntsman's call,
Obedient to the unwelcome note
That stays them from the quarry's bursting throat?
Famine and Pestilence and Earthquake dire,
Torrent and Tempest, Lightning, Frost and Fire,
The soulless Tiger and the mindless Snake,
The noxious Insect from the stagnant lake
(Automaton malevolences wrought
Out of the substance of Creative Thought
These from their immemorial prey restrained,
Their fury baffled and their power chained?
I'm safe? Is that what the physician said?
What! 'Out of danger?' Then, by Heaven, I'm dead!
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFF GGHHIICXJJXXKKLL FFMMXXNNOOPP QQ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111010101 1111101 1100011111 110110111 1110001 1101011101 110111010 110101110 1100110111 101011101 1100111101 1111011111 1111010001 1101010001 0101110111 1101000101 0101110101 11101011 0101001101 1111010101 1111010101 0100110111 0101011101 01000111 1101011101 1111010111 1101010001 0101110001 111110101 110101011 0100100101 111101101 100100011 10010101010 0101000101 010110101 01011 1101010101 1110100101 1101001101 1111100101 11110111011 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,697 |
Words | 291 |
Sentences | 25 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 16, 12, 2 |
Lines Amount | 42 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 345 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 71 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:28 min read
- 92 Views
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"Convalescent [What! 'Out of danger?' Can the slighted Dame]" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1747/convalescent-%5Bwhat%21-%27out-of-danger%3F%27-can-the-slighted-dame%5D>.
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