Analysis of Vice Versa
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
Down in the state of Maine, the story goes,
A woman, to secure a lapsing pension,
Married a soldier-though the good Lord knows
That very common act scarce calls for mention.
What makes it worthy to be writ and read
The man she married had been nine hours dead!
Now, marrying a corpse is not an act
Familiar to our daily observation,
And so I crave her pardon if the fact
Suggests this interesting speculation:
Should some mischance restore the man to life
Would she be then a widow, or a wife?
Let casuists contest the point; I'm not
Disposed to grapple with so great a matter.
'T would tie my thinker in a double knot
And drive me staring mad as any hatter
Though I submit that hatters are, in fact,
Sane, and all other human beings cracked.
Small thought have I of Destiny or Chance;
Luck seems to me the same thing as Intention;
In metaphysics I could ne'er advance,
And think it of the Devil's own invention.
Enough of joy to know though when I wed
I _must_ be married, yet I _may_ be dead.
Scheme | ABABCC DBDBEE FGFGDD HBHBCC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1001110101 01010101010 1001010111 11010111110 1111011101 01110111101 1100011111 01011010010 0111010101 011100010 111010111 1111010101 11100111 01110111010 11111000101 01110111010 110111101 1011010101 1111110011 11110111010 001011101 01110101010 0111111111 1111011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 979 |
Words | 190 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 4 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 6, 6, 6 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 195 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 47 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 57 sec read
- 152 Views
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"Vice Versa" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 5 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/2031/vice-versa>.
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