Analysis of The 'Viduate Dame'
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
'Tis the widow of Thomas Blythe,
And she goeth upon the spree,
And red are cheeks of the bystanders
For her acts are light and free.
In a seven-ounce costume
The widow of Thomas Blythe,
Y-perched high on the window ledge,
The difficult can-can tryeth.
Ten constables they essay
To bate the dame's halloing.
With the widow of Thomas Blythe
Their hands are overflowing,
And they cry: 'Call the National Guard
To quell this parlous muss-
For all of the widows of Thomas Blythe
Are upon the spree and us!'
O long shall the eerie tale be told
By that posse's surviving tithe;
And with tears bedewed he'll sing this rude
Ballad of the widow of Thomas Blythe.
Scheme | ABCB XAXA XDAD XCAX XAXA |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 10101101 0110101 01111010 1011101 0010101 0101101 11110101 0100111 1100101 11011 10101101 111100 011101001 11111 1110101101 1010101 111010111 1110101 01111111 1010101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 641 |
Words | 121 |
Sentences | 6 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 20 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 103 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 117 Views
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"The 'Viduate Dame'" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1986/the-%27viduate-dame%27>.
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