Analysis of In Memoriam
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
Beauty (they called her) wasn't a maid
Of many things in the world afraid.
She wasn't a maid who turned and fled
At sight of a mouse, alive or dead.
She wasn't a maid a man could 'shoo'
By shouting, however abruptly, 'Boo!'
She wasn't a maid who'd run and hide
If her face and figure you idly eyed.
She was'nt a maid who'd blush and shake
When asked what part of the fowl she'd take.
(I blush myself to confess she preferred,
And commonly got, the most of the bird.)
She wasn't a maid to simper because
She was asked to sing-if she ever was.
In short, if the truth must be displayed
_In puris_-Beauty wasn't a maid.
Beauty, furry and fine and fat,
Yawny and clawy, sleek and all that,
Was a pampered and spoiled Angora cat!
I loved her well, and I'm proud that she
Wasn't indifferent, quite, to me;
In fact I have sometimes gone so far
(You know, mesdames, how silly men are)
As to think she preferred-excuse the conceit
_My_ legs upon which to sharpen her feet.
Perhaps it shouldn't have gone for much,
But I started and thrilled beneath her touch!
Ah, well, that's ancient history now:
The fingers of Time have touched my brow,
And I hear with never a start to-day
That Beauty has passed from the earth away.
Gone!-her death-song (it killed her) sung.
Gone!-her fiddlestrings all unstrung.
Gone to the bliss of a new _regime
Of turkey smothered in seas of cream;
Of roasted mice (a superior breed,
To science unknown and the coarser need
Of the living cat) cooked by the flame
Of the dainty soul of an erring dame
Who gave to purity all her care,
Neglecting the duty of daily prayer,
Crisp, delicate mice, just touched with spice
By the ghost of a breeze from Paradise;
A very digestible sort of mice.
Let scoffers sneer, I propose to hold
That Beauty has mounted the Stair of Gold,
To eat and eat, forever and aye,
On a velvet rug from a golden tray.
But the human spirit-that is my creed
Rots in the ground like a barren seed.
That is my creed, abhorred by Man
But approved by Cat since time began.
Till Death shall kick at me, thundering 'Scat!'
I shall hold to that, I shall hold to that.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFXX AAGGG HHIIJJKK LLMMXENNOONNPPQQQ RRXMOOSSGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101101001 110100101 110011101 111010111 110010111 110100101 110011101 1010101101 11011101 111110111 111101101 0100101101 1100111001 1111111101 011011101 11101001 10100101 1011011 1010010101 110101111 10010111 011101111 110111011 11110101001 1101111001 011101111 1110010101 111101001 010111111 0111100111 1101110101 10111101 10111 11011011 110100111 1101001001 1100100101 101011101 1010111101 111100101 0100101101 110011111 101101110 0100100111 11110111 1101100111 110101001 1010110101 1010101111 100110101 11110111 101111101 1111111001 1111111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,049 |
Words | 400 |
Sentences | 23 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 14, 5, 8, 17, 10 |
Lines Amount | 54 |
Letters per line (avg) | 30 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 321 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 79 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:03 min read
- 97 Views
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"In Memoriam" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1811/in-memoriam>.
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