Analysis of Foundations Of The State
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
Observe, dear Lord, what lively pranks
Are played by sentimental cranks!
First this one mounts his hinder hoofs
And brays the chimneys off the roofs;
Then that one, with exalted voice,
Expounds the thesis of his choice,
Our understandings to bombard,
Till all the window panes are starred!
A third augments the vocal shock
Till steeples to their bases rock,
Confessing, as they humbly nod,
They hear and mark the will of God.
A fourth in oral thunder vents
His awful penury of sense
Till dogs with sympathetic howls,
And lowing cows, and cackling fowls,
Hens, geese, and all domestic birds,
Attest the wisdom of his words.
Cranks thus their intellects deflate
Of theories about the State.
This one avers 'tis built on Truth,
And that on Temperance. This youth
Declares that Science bears the pile;
That graybeard, with a holy smile,
Says Faith is the supporting stone;
While women swear that Love alone
Could so unflinchingly endure
The heavy load. And some are sure
The solemn vow of Christian Wedlock
Is the indubitable bedrock.
Physicians once about the bed
Of one whose life was nearly sped
Blew up a disputatious breeze
About the cause of his disease:
This, that and t' other thing they blamed.
'Tut, tut!' the dying man exclaimed,
'What made me ill I do not care;
You've not an ounce of it, I'll swear.
And if you had the skill to make it
I'd see you hanged before I'd take it!'
Scheme | AAXXBBCCDDEEXXXAFFGGHHIIJJKKDD LLMMNNOOPP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (33%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 01111101 1110101 11111101 01010101 11110101 01010111 100010101 11010111 0110101 11011101 01011101 11010111 01010101 11010011 1110101 010101001 11010101 01010111 1111001 1100101 11101111 01110011 01110101 11010101 11100101 11011101 11101 01010111 01011101 1011 01010101 11111101 11011 01011101 110110111 11010101 11111111 11111111 011101111 111101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,353 |
Words | 249 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 30, 10 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 546 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 123 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:15 min read
- 44 Views
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"Foundations Of The State" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1785/foundations-of-the-state>.
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