Analysis of A 'Scion Of Nobility'

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



Come, sisters, weep!-our Baron dear,
Alas! has run away.
If always we had kept him here
He had not gone astray.

Painter and grainer it were vain
To say he was, before;
And if he were, yet ne'er again
He'll darken here a door.

We mourn each matrimonial plan
Even tradesmen join the cry:
He was so promising a man
Whenever he did buy.

He was a fascinating lad,
Deny it all who may;
Even moneyed men confess he had
A very taking way.

So from our tables he is gone
Our tears descend in showers;
We loved the very fat upon.
His kidneys, for 'twas ours.

To women he was all respect
To duns as cold as ice;
No lady could his suit reject,
No tailor get its price.

He raised our hope above the sky;
Alas! alack! and O!
That one who worked it up so high
Should play it down so low!


Scheme XAXA XBXB CDCD EAEA XFXF GHGH DIDI
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 110110101 011101 1111111 111101 1001101 111101 01101101 110101 11101001 1010101 11110001 010111 1101001 011111 101010111 010101 111010111 10101010 11010101 1101110 11011101 111111 11011101 110111 111010101 01101 11111111 111111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 752
Words 158
Sentences 15
Stanzas 7
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 28
Letters per line (avg) 21
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 84
Words per stanza (avg) 22
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 14, 2023

48 sec read
408

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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    What is the term for the continuation of a sentence without a pause beyond the end of a line, couplet, or stanza.
    A Enjambment
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    D Dithyramb