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 Views
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"Something In The Papers" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1892/something-in-the-papers>.
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