Analysis of Lucifer Of The Torch
O Reverend Ravlin, once with sounding lung
You shook the bloody banner of your tongue,
Urged all the fiery boycotters afield
And swore you'd rather follow them than yield,
Alas, how brief the time, how great the change!
Your dogs of war are ailing all of mange;
The loose leash dangles from your finger-tips,
But the loud 'havoc' dies upon your lips.
No spirit animates your feeble clay
You'd rather yield than even run away.
In vain McGlashan labors to inspire
Your pallid nostril with his breath of fire:
The light of battle's faded from your face
You keep the peace, John Chinaman his place.
O Ravlin, what cold water, thrown by whom
Upon the kindling Boycott's ruddy bloom,
Has slaked your parching blood-thirst and allayed
The flash and shimmer of your lingual blade?
Your salary-your salary's unpaid!
In the old days, when Christ with scourges drave
The Ravlins headlong from the Temple's nave,
Each bore upon his pelt the mark divine
The Boycott's red authenticating sign.
Birth-marked forever in surviving hurts,
Glowing and smarting underneath their shirts,
Successive Ravlins have revenged their shame
By blowing every coal and flinging flame.
And you, the latest (may you be the last!)
Endorsed with that hereditary, vast
And monstrous rubric, would the feud prolong,
Save that cupidity forbids the wrong.
In strife you preferably pass your days
But brawl no moment longer than it pays.
By shouting when no more you can incite
The dogs to put the timid sheep to flight
To load, for you, the brambles with their fleece,
You cackle concord to congenial geese,
Put pinches of goodwill upon their tails
And pluck them with a touch that never fails.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEXXFFGGHHH IIJJKKLLMMNNOOPPQQRR |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1100111101 1101010111 110100101 0111010111 0111011101 1111110111 0111011101 1011010111 1101001101 1101110101 0101010101 11010111110 0111010111 11011111 111110111 010101101 111111001 010101111 11001101 0011111101 01110101 1101110101 01101001 1101000101 100100111 01011111 11010010101 0101011101 011101001 0101010101 1101000101 0111000111 1111010111 1101111101 0111010111 1111010111 110110101 111110111 0111011101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,625 |
Words | 284 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 2 |
Stanza Lengths | 19, 20 |
Lines Amount | 39 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 662 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 141 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:27 min read
- 88 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Lucifer Of The Torch" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1829/lucifer-of-the-torch>.
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