Analysis of Something In The Papers

Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)



'What's in the paper?' Oh, it's dev'lish dull:
There's nothing happening at all-a lull
After the war-storm. Mr. Someone's wife
Killed by her lover with, I think, a knife.
A fire on Blank Street and some babies-one,
Two, three or four, I don't remember, done
To quite a delicate and lovely brown.
A husband shot by woman of the town
The same old story. Shipwreck somewhere south.
The crew, all saved-or lost. Uncommon drouth
Makes hundreds homeless up the River Mud
Though, come to think, I guess it was a flood.
'T is feared some bank will burst-or else it won't
They always burst, I fancy-or they don't;
Who cares a cent?-the banker pays his coin
And takes his chances: bullet in the groin
But that's another item-suicide
Fool lost his money (serve him right) and died.
Heigh-ho! there's noth-Jerusalem! what's this:
Tom Jones has failed! My God, what an abyss
Of ruin!-owes me seven hundred clear!
Was ever such a damned disastrous year!


Scheme AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKK
Poetic Form
Metre 1001011111 1101001101 100111011 1101011101 01011101101 1111110101 1101000101 0101110101 011101011 0111110101 1101010101 1111111101 11111111111 111110111 1101010111 0111010001 110101010 1111011101 1111010011 1111111101 1101110101 1101010101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 926
Words 169
Sentences 18
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 22
Lines Amount 22
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 716
Words per stanza (avg) 164
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

53 sec read
40

Ambrose Bierce

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist. more…

All Ambrose Bierce poems | Ambrose Bierce Books

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