A Demagogue

Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)



Yawp, yawp, yawp!
Under the moon and sun.
It's aye the rabble,
And I to gabble,
And hey! for the tale that is never done.

'Chant, chant, chant!
To woo the reluctant vote.
I would I were dead
And my say were said
And my song were sung to its ultimate note.

'Stab, stab, stab!
Ah! the weapon between my teeth
I'm sick of the flash of it;
See how the slash of it
Misses the foeman to mangle the sheath!

'Boom, boom, boom!
I'm beating the mammoth drum.
My nethermost tripes
I blow into the pipes
It's oh! for the honors that never come!'

'Twas the dolorous blab
Of a tramping 'scab'
'Twas the eloquent Swift
Of the marvelous gift
The wild, weird, wonderful gift of gab!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

40 sec read
45

Quick analysis:

Scheme XABBA XCDDC EFGGF XHIIH EEJJE
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 649
Words 131
Stanzas 5
Stanza Lengths 5, 5, 5, 5, 5

Ambrose Bierce

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist. more…

All Ambrose Bierce poems | Ambrose Bierce Books

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    "A Demagogue" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/1616/a-demagogue>.

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