Analysis of A Coward

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



By hardihood to rise and fear to strike,
And fitly to rebuke his sins decrees,
That, hide from others with what care he please,
Night sha'n't be black enough nor earth so wide
That from himself himself can ever hide!
Hard fate indeed to feel at every breath
His burden of identity till death!
No moment's respite from the immortal load,
To think himself a serpent or a toad,
Or dream, with a divine, ecstatic glow,
He's long been dead and canonized a crow!


Scheme ABBCCDDEEFF
Poetic Form
Metre 11110111 011011101 1111011111 111111011111 1101011101 11011111001 1101010011 11010100101 1101010101 1110010101 111101001
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 454
Words 86
Sentences 4
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 11
Lines Amount 11
Letters per line (avg) 32
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 357
Words per stanza (avg) 84
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

27 sec read
444

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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