Analysis of For A Certain Critic
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
Let lowly themes engage my humble pen
Stupidities of critics, not of men.
Be it mine once more the maunderings to trace
Of the expounders' self-directed race
Their wire-drawn fancies, finically fine,
Of diligent vacuity the sign.
Let them in jargon of their trade rehearse
The moral meaning of the random verse
That runs spontaneous from the poet's pen
To be half-blotted by ambitious men
Who hope with his their meaner names to link
By writing o'er it in another ink
The thoughts unreal which they think they think,
Until the mental eye in vain inspects
The hateful palimpsest to find the text.
The lark ascending heavenward, loud and long
Sings to the dawning day his wanton song.
The moaning dove, attentive to the sound,
Its hidden meaning hastens to expound:
Explains its principles, design-in brief,
Pronounces it a parable of grief!
The bee, just pausing ere he daubs his thigh
With pollen from a hollyhock near by,
Declares he never heard in terms so just
The labor problem thoughtfully discussed!
The browsing ass looks up and clears his whistle
To say: 'A monologue upon the thistle!'
Meanwhile the lark, descending, folds his wing
And innocently asks: 'What!-did I sing?'
O literary parasites! who thrive
Upon the fame of better men, derive
Your sustenance by suction, like a leech,
And, for you preach of them, think masters preach,
Who find it half is profit, half delight,
To write about what you could never write,
Consider, pray, how sharp had been the throes
Of famine and discomfiture in those
You write of if they had been critics, too,
And doomed to write of nothing but of you!
Lo! where the gaping crowd throngs yonder tent,
To see the lion resolutely bent!
The prosing showman who the beast displays
Grows rich and richer daily in its praise.
But how if, to attract the curious yeoman,
The lion owned the show and showed the showman?
Scheme | AABBCCDDAAEEEXX FFGGHH IIJJKKLL MMNNOOPPQQ RRSSTT |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 1101011101 1110111 11111010011 10110101 11011011 1100101 1101011101 0101010101 11010010101 1111010101 1111110111 11010100101 010111111 0101010101 01011101 010101101 1101011101 0101010101 1101010101 0111000101 0101010011 0111011111 110101011 0111010111 0101010001 01011101110 1101001010 101010111 0100011111 11001011 0101110101 1100110101 0111111101 1111110101 1101111101 0101111101 1100101 1111111101 0111110111 1101011101 110101001 011010101 1101010011 111101010010 01010101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,820 |
Words | 327 |
Sentences | 16 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 15, 6, 8, 10, 6 |
Lines Amount | 45 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 295 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 64 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 31, 2023
- 1:38 min read
- 109 Views
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"For A Certain Critic" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1778/for-a-certain-critic>.
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