Analysis of Technology
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
'Twas a serious person with locks of gray
And a figure like a crescent;
His gravity, clearly, had come to stay,
But his smile was evanescent.
He stood and conversed with a neighbor, and
With (likewise) a high falsetto;
And he stabbed his forefinger into his hand
As if it had been a stiletto.
His words, like the notes of a tenor drum,
Came out of his head unblended,
And the wonderful altitude of some
Was exceptionally splendid.
While executing a shake of the head,
With the hand, as it were, of a master,
This agonizing old gentleman said:
''Twas a truly sad disaster!
'Four hundred and ten longs and shorts in all,
Went down'-he paused and snuffled.
A single tear was observed to fall,
And the old man's drum was muffled.
'A very calamitous year,' he said.
And again his head-piece hoary
He shook, and another pearl he shed,
As if he wept _con amore.
'O lacrymose person,' I cried, 'pray why
Should these failures so affect you?
With speculators in stocks no eye
That's normal would ever connect you.'
He focused his orbs upon mine and smiled
In a sinister sort of manner.
'Young man,' he said, 'your words are wild:
I spoke of the steamship 'Hanner.'
'For she has went down in a howlin' squall,
And my heart is nigh to breakin'
Four hundred and ten longs and shorts in all
Will never need undertakin'!
'I'm in the business myself,' said he,
'And you've mistook my expression;
For I uses the technical terms, you see,
Employed in my perfession.'
That old undertaker has joined the throng
On the other side of the River,
But I'm still unhappy to think I'm a 'long,'
And a tape-line makes me shiver.
Scheme | abab xcxc dbdx efef Gbgx ehex ijij kfkf glGl hlhl mfmf |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (91%) |
Metre | 10100101111 00101010 1100101111 1111010 1100110100 110101 0111100111 111110010 1110110101 111111 001001011 10100010 110001101 1011101010 1100011001 10101010 1100110101 111101 010110111 00111110 0100100111 00111110 110010111 1111110 11101111 11101011 11000111 110110011 1101101101 001001110 11111111 1110110 111110011 0111111 1100110101 11011 10010111 01011010 11100100111 01011 111001101 101011010 11101011101 00111110 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,566 |
Words | 301 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 11 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 112 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 26 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 01, 2023
- 1:30 min read
- 203 Views
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"Technology" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1901/technology>.
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