Analysis of The Unpardonable Sin
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
I reckon that ye never knew,
That dandy slugger, Tom Carew,
He had a touch as light an' free
As that of any honey-bee;
But where it lit there wasn't much
To jestify another touch.
O, what a Sunday-school it was
To watch him puttin' up his paws
An' roominate upon their heft
Particular his holy left!
Tom was my style-that's all I say;
Some others may be equal gay.
What's come of him? Dunno, I'm sure
He's dead-which make his fate obscure.
I only started in to clear
One vital p'int in his career,
Which is to say-afore he died
He soiled his erming mighty snide.
Ye see he took to politics
And learnt them statesmen-fellers' tricks;
Pulled wires, wore stovepipe hats, used scent,
Just like he was the President;
Went to the Legislator; spoke
Right out agin the British yoke
But that was right. He let his hair
Grow long to qualify for Mayor,
An' once or twice he poked his snoot
In Congress like a low galoot!
It had to come-no gent can hope
To wrastle God agin the rope.
Tom went from bad to wuss. Being dead,
I s'pose it oughtn't to be said,
For sech inikities as flow
From politics ain't fit to know;
But, if you think it's actin' white
To tell it-Thomas throwed a fight!
Scheme | AABBCCDEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLMMNOFFPPQQRRSS |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011101 11010110 11011111 11110101 11111101 110101 1101111 1111111 110111 01001101 11111111 11011101 11110111 11111101 11010011 11010101 1111111 1111101 1111110 01110101 11011111 1111010 1101001 11010101 11111111 11110110 11111111 0101011 11111111 1110101 111111101 111110111 11111 1101111 11111101 11110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,147 |
Words | 224 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 36 |
Lines Amount | 36 |
Letters per line (avg) | 25 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 899 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 222 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:10 min read
- 108 Views
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"The Unpardonable Sin" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1981/the-unpardonable-sin>.
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