Analysis of The Shafter Shafted
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
Well, James McMillan Shafter, you're a Judge
At least you were when last I knew of you;
And if the people since have made you budge
I did not notice it. I've much to do
Without endeavoring to follow, through
The miserable squabbles, dust and smudge,
The fate of even the veteran contenders
Who fight with flying colors and suspenders.
Being a Judge, 'tis natural and wrong
That you should villify the public press
Save while you are a candidate. That song
Is easy quite to sing, and I confess
It wins applause from hearers who have less
Of spiritual graces than belong
To audiences of another kidney
Men, for example, like Sir Philip Sidney.
Newspapers, so you say, don't always treat
The Judges with respect. That may be so
And still no harm done, for I swear I'll eat
My legs and in the long hereafter go,
Snake-like, upon my belly if you'll show
All Judges are respectable and sweet.
For some of them are rogues and the world's laughter's
Directed at some others, for they're Shafters.
Scheme | ABABBACCDEDEEDFF GHGHHGCC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110101101 1110111111 0101011111 1111011111 0101001101 0100010101 011100100010 11110100010 1001110001 11110101 1111010011 1101110101 1101110111 1100010101 11000101010 11010111010 10111111 0101011111 0111111111 1100010101 1101110111 1101010001 1111110011 0101110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 973 |
Words | 180 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 16, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 389 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 89 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 56 sec read
- 110 Views
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"The Shafter Shafted" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1971/the-shafter-shafted>.
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