Analysis of Llewellen Powell
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
Villain, when the word is spoken,
And your chains at last are broken
When the gibbet's chilling shade
Ceases darkly to enfold you,
And the angel who enrolled you
As a master of the trade
Of assassination sadly
Blots the record he has made,
And your name and title paints
In the calendar of saints;
When the devils, dancing madly
In the midmost Hell, are very
Multitudinously merry
Then beware, beware, beware!
Nemesis is everywhere!
You shall hear her at your back,
And, your hunted visage turning,
Fancy that her eyes are burning
Like a tiger's on your track!
You shall hear her in the breeze
Whispering to summer trees.
You shall hear her calling, calling
To your spirit through the storm
When the giant billows form
And the splintered lightning, falling
Down the heights of Heaven, appalling,
Splendors all the tossing seas!
On your bed at night reclining,
Stars into your chamber shining
As they roll around the Pole,
None their purposes divining,
Shall appear to search your soul,
And to gild the mark of Cain
That burns into your tortured brain!
And the dead man's eyes shall ever
Meet your own wherever you,
Desperate, shall turn you to,
And you shall escape them never!
By your heritage of guilt;
By the blood that you have spilt;
By the Law that you have broken;
By the terrible red token
That you bear upon your brow;
By the awful sentence spoken
And irrevocable vow
Which consigns you to a living
Death and to the unforgiving
Furies who avenge your crime
Through the periods of time;
By that dread eternal doom
Hinted in your future's gloom,
As the flames infernal tell
Of their power and perfection
In their wavering reflection
On the battlements of Hell;
By the mercy you denied,
I condemn your guilty soul
In your body to abide,
Like a serpent in a hole!
Scheme | AABCCBDBEEDDDFFGHHGIIHJJHHIHHKHKLLMCCM NNAAOAOHHPPQQRAARSKSK |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 10101110 01111110 101101 10101011 00101011 1010101 1001010 1001111 0110101 0010011 10101010 0011110 110 1010101 100110 1110111 01101010 10101110 1010111 1110001 1001101 11101010 1110101 1010101 00101010 101110010 110101 11111010 10111010 1110101 11100010 1011111 0110111 11011101 00111110 1110101 101111 01101110 1110011 1011111 10111110 10100110 1110111 10101010 0010001 1111010 10100010 110111 1010011 1110101 1001101 1010101 11100010 01100010 1010011 1010101 1011101 0110101 1010001 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,718 |
Words | 317 |
Sentences | 9 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 38, 21 |
Lines Amount | 59 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 705 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 158 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:36 min read
- 46 Views
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"Llewellen Powell" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1828/llewellen-powell>.
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