Analysis of Bats In Sunshine
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
Well, Mr. Kemble, you are called, I think,
A great divine, and I'm a great profane.
You as a Congregationalist blink
Some certain truths that I esteem a gain,
And dropp them in the coffers of my brain,
Pleased with the pretty music of their chink.
Perhaps your spiritual wealth is such
A golden truth or two don't count for much.
You say that you've no patience with such stuff
As by Renan is writ, and when you read
(Why _do_ you read?) have hardly strength enough
To hold your hand from flinging the vile screed
Into the fire. That were a wasteful deed
Which you'd repent in sackcloth extra rough;
For books cost money, and I'm told you care
To lay up treasures Here as well as There.
I fear, good, pious soul, that you mistake
Your thrift for toleration. Never mind:
Renan in any case would hardly break
His great, strong, charitable heart to find
The bats and owls of your myopic kind
Pained by the light that his ideas make.
'Tis Truth's best purpose to shine in at holes
Where cower the Kembles, to confound their souls!
Scheme | ABABBACC DXDEEDFF GHGHHGII |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101011111 0101010101 11011 1101110101 0110010111 1101010111 0111000111 0101111111 1111110111 111110111 1111110101 1111110011 01010100101 110101101 1111001111 1111011111 1111011101 111010101 101011101 1111000111 0101110101 1101110101 1111011011 1100110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,011 |
Words | 193 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 267 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 63 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 59 sec read
- 113 Views
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