Analysis of A 'Mass' Meeting
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
It was a solemn rite as e'er
Was seen by mortal man.
The celebrants, the people there,
Were all Republican.
There Estee bent his grizzled head,
And General Dimond, too,
And one-'twas Reddick, some one said,
Though no one clearly knew.
I saw the priest, white-robed and tall
(Assistant, Father Stow)-
He was the pious man men call
Dan Burns of Mexico.
Ah, 'twas a high and holy rite
As any one could swear.
'What does it mean?' I asked a wight
Who knelt apart in prayer.
'A mass for the repose,' he said,
'Of Colonel Markham's'--'What,
Is gallant Colonel Markham dead?
'Tis sad, 'tis sad, God wot!'
'A mass'-repeated he, and rose
To go and kneel among
The worshipers-'for the repose
Of Colonel Markham's tongue.'
Scheme | XXAX BCBC DEDE FAFA BBBB GHGH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (83%) |
Metre | 110101110 111101 01000101 010100 11011101 0100101 01110111 111101 11011101 010101 11010111 11110 11010101 110111 11111101 110101 01100111 11011 11010101 111111 01010101 110101 01001001 110101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 696 |
Words | 132 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 89 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 21 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 40 sec read
- 250 Views
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"A 'Mass' Meeting" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1635/a-%27mass%27-meeting>.
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