Analysis of A Patter Song

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



There was a cranky Governor
His name it wasn't Waterman.
For office he was hotter than
The love of any lover, nor
Was Boruck's threat of aiding him
Effective in dissuading him
This pig-headed, big-headed, singularly self-conceited Governor Nonwaterman.

To citrus fairs, _et caetera_,
He went about philandering,
To pride of parish pandering.
He knew not any better-ah,
His early education had
Not taught the abnegation fad
The wool-witted, bull-witted, fabulously feeble-minded king of gabble-gandering!

He conjured up, _ad libitum_,
With postures energetical,
One day (this is prophetical)
His graces, to exhibit 'em.
He straddled in each attitude,
Four parallels of latitude
The slab-footed, crab-footed, galloping gregarian, of presence unaesthetical!
An ancient cow, perceiving that
His powers of agility
Transcended her ability
(A circumstance for grieving at)
Upon her horns engrafted him
And to the welkin wafted him
The high-rolling, sky-rolling, hurtling hallelujah-lad of peerless volatility!


Scheme ABXXCCB ADDXEED CFFXGGFHIIHCCI
Poetic Form
Metre 11010100 11110100 11011101 01110101 1111101 010011 1110110100010101001 110111 1101100 11110100 11110101 1100101 11011 0110110100010101111 110111 1101 11111 11010101 1100110 110110 011011010011101 11010101 11010100 01000100 0101101 010111 0101101 01101101001011100100
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 983
Words 148
Sentences 8
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 7, 7, 14
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 29
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 270
Words per stanza (avg) 49
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

45 sec read
89

Ambrose Bierce

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

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