Analysis of Judex Judicatus
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
Judge Armstrong, when the poor have sought your aid,
To be released from vows that they have made
In haste, and leisurely repented, you,
As stern as Rhadamanthus (Minos too,
And AEeacus) have drawn your fierce brows down
And petrified them with a moral frown!
With iron-faced rigor you have made them run
The gauntlet of publicity-each Hun
Or Vandal of the public press allowed
To throw their households open to the crowd
And bawl their secret bickerings aloud.
When Wealth before you suppliant appears,
Bang! go the doors and open fly your ears!
The blinds are drawn, the lights diminished burn,
Lest eyes too curious should look and learn
That gold refines not, sweetens not a life
Of conjugal brutality and strife-
That vice is vulgar, though it gilded shine
Upon the curve of a judicial spine.
The veiled complainant's whispered evidence,
The plain collusion and the no defense,
The sealed exhibits and the secret plea,
The unrecorded and unseen decree,
The midnight signature and-_chink! chink! chink!
Nay, pardon, upright Judge, I did but think
I heard that sound abhorred of honest men;
No doubt it was the scratching of your pen.
O California! long-enduring land,
Where Judges fawn upon the Golden Hand,
Proud of such service to that rascal thing
As slaves would blush to render to a king
Judges, of judgment destitute and heart,
Of conscience conscious only by the smart
From the recoil (so insight is enlarged)
Of duty accidentally discharged;
Invoking still a 'song o' sixpence' from
The Scottish fiddle of each lusty palm,
Thy Judges, California, skilled to play
This silent music, through the livelong-day
Perform obsequious before the rich,
And still the more they scratch the more they itch!
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEEFFGGHHIIXXJJKKLL MMNNOOPPXXQQRR |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111011111 1101111111 0101000101 111111 01111111 010110101 11011011111 0101010011 1101010101 111110101 01110101 11011101 1101010111 0111010101 1111001101 1101110101 1100010001 1111011101 0101100101 0101010100 0101000101 0101000101 001000101 011000111 1100111111 1111011101 1111010111 101010101 1101010101 1111011101 1111110101 101101001 1101010101 100111101 110010001 010101111 0101011101 110010111 110101011 0101000101 0101110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,674 |
Words | 288 |
Sentences | 12 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 27, 14 |
Lines Amount | 41 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 684 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 143 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:26 min read
- 94 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Judex Judicatus" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1822/judex-judicatus>.
Discuss this Ambrose Bierce poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In