Analysis of From The Minutes
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
When, with the force of a ram that discharges its ponderous body
Straight at the rear elevation of the luckless culler of simples,
The foot of Herculean Kilgore-statesman of surname suggestive
Or carnage unspeakable!-lit like a missile prodigious
Upon the Congressional door with a monstrous and mighty momentum,
Causing that vain ineffective bar to political freedom
To fly from its hinges, effacing the nasal excrescence of Dingley,
That luckless one, decently veiling the ruin with ready bandanna,
Lamented the loss of his eminence, sadly with sobs as follows:
'Ah, why was I ever elected to the halls of legislation,
So soon to be shown the door with pitiless emphasis? Truly,
I've leaned on a broken Reed, and the same has gone back on me meanly.
Where now is my prominence, erstwhile in council conspicuous, patent?
Alas, I did never before understand what I now see clearly,
To wit, that Democracy tends to level all human distinctions!'
His fate so untoward and sad the Pine-tree statesman, bewailing,
Stood in the corridor there while Democrats freed from confinement
Came trooping forth from the chamber, dissembling all, as they passed him,
Hilarious sentiments painful indeed to observe, and remarking:
'O friend and colleague of the Speaker, what ails the unjoyous proboscis?'
Scheme | ABCBDDAEBEAFGABHGIHB |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011011010110010 110101010101011 0110100101011010 110010011010010 010010011010010010 1011001011010010 1111100100101110 1101100100101101 01001111001011110 1111100101011010 1111101110010010 1110101001111111 11111001010010010 0111100101111110 11101001110110010 11100101011101 100100111011010 1101101001011111 010010010011010010 1101010101101010 |
Characters | 1,278 |
Words | 213 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 20 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 52 |
Words per line (avg) | 10 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,042 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 208 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:03 min read
- 50 Views
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"From The Minutes" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1791/from-the-minutes>.
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