Analysis of A Demand
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
You promised to paint me a picture,
Dear Mat,
And I was to pay you in rhyme.
Although I am loth to inflict your
Most easy of consciences, I'm
Of opinion that fibbing is awful,
And breaking a contract unlawful,
Indictable, too, as a crime,
A slight and all that.
If, Lady Unbountiful, any
Of that
By mortals called pity has part
In your obdurate soul-if a penny
You care for the health of my heart,
By performing your undertaking
You'll succor that organ from breaking
And spare it for some new smart,
As puss does a rat.
Do you think it is very becoming,
Dear Mat,
To deny me my rights evermore
And-bless you! if I begin summing
Your sins they will make a long score!
You never were generous, madam,
If you had been Eve and I Adam
You'd have given me naught but the core,
And little of that.
Had I been content with a Titian,
A cat
By Landseer, a meadow by Claude,
No doubt I'd have had your permission
To take it-by purchase abroad.
But why should I sail o'er the ocean
For Landseers and Claudes? I've a notion
All's bad that the critics belaud.
I wanted a Mat.
Presumption's a sin, and I suffer
For that:
But still you _did_ say that sometime,
If I'd pay you enough (here's enougher
That's more than enough) of rhym
You'd paint me a picture. I pay you
Hereby in advance; and I pray you
Condone, while you can, your crime,
And send me a Mat.
But if you don't do it I warn you,
Dear Mat,
I'll raise such a clamor and cry
On Parnassus the Muses will scorn you
As mocker of poets and fly
With bitter complaints to Apollo:
'Her spirit is proud, her heart hollow,
Her beauty'-they'll hardly deny,
On second thought, _that_!
Scheme | aBcdceecb fbgfghhgb hBdhdiidb jbkjkjjbb abcacllcb lBmlmnnmb |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 110111010 11 01111101 11111011 11011001 101011110 01001010 11101 01011 110110 11 11011011 0110011010 11101111 10101100 110110110 0111111 11101 1111110010 11 10111110 011110110 11111011 110010010 111110110 111011101 01011 111101010 01 110111 111111010 11111001 1111110010 11011010 1110101 11001 1010110 11 1111111 11110111 1110111 111010111 010010111 0111111 01101 111111111 11 11101001 110010111 1111001 110011010 010110110 0111001 11011 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,574 |
Words | 311 |
Sentences | 14 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9 |
Lines Amount | 54 |
Letters per line (avg) | 23 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 207 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 52 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 07, 2023
- 1:38 min read
- 92 Views
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"A Demand" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1617/a-demand>.
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