Analysis of T.A.H.
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
YES, he was that, or that, as you prefer,—
Did so and so, though, faith, it was n’t all;
Lived like a fool, or a philosopher,
And had whatever’s needful to a fall.
As rough inflections on a planet merge
In the true bend of the gigantic sphere,
Nor mar the perfect circle of its verge,
So in the survey of his worth the small
Asperities of spirit disappear,
Lost in the grander curves of character.
He lately was hit hard; none knew but I
The strength and terror of that ghastly stroke,—
Not even herself. He uttered not a cry,
But set his teeth and made a revelry;
Drank like a devil,—staining sometimes red
The goblet ’s edge; diced with his conscience; spread,
Like Sisyphus, a feast for Death, and spoke
His welcome in a tongue so long forgot
That even his ancient guest remembered not
What race had cursed him in it. Thus my friend,
Still conjugating with each failing sense
The verb “to die” in every mood and tense,
Pursued his awful humor to the end.
When, like a stormy dawn, the crimson broke
From his white lips, he smiled and mutely bled,
And, having meanly lived, is grandly dead.
Scheme | ABABCDCBDAEFEGHHFIIJKKJFHH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111111101 1101111111 1101100100 01110101 1101010101 0011100101 1100110111 1000111101 111001 1001011100 1101111111 0101011101 11001110101 1111010100 1101010011 01011111101 11011101 1100011101 11011010101 1111101111 1111101 01110100101 0111010101 1101010101 111111011 010111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,096 |
Words | 208 |
Sentences | 7 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 26 |
Lines Amount | 26 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 845 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 203 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:02 min read
- 186 Views
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"T.A.H." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 13 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1900/t.a.h.>.
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