Analysis of The Confederate Flags
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
Tut-tut! give back the flags - how can you care,
You veterans and heroes?
Why should you at a kind intention swear
Like twenty Neros?
Suppose the act was not so overwise -
Suppose it was illegal;
Is't well on such a question to arise
And punch the Eagle?
Nay, let's economize his breath to scold
And terrify the alien
Who tackles him, as Hercules of old
The bird Stymphalian.
Among the rebels when we made a breach
Was it to get the banners?
That was but incidental - 'twas to teach
Them better manners.
They know the lessons well enough to-day;
Now, let us try to show them
That we're not only stronger far than they,
(How we did mow them!)
But more magnanimous. My lads, 'tis plain
'Twas an uncommon riot;
The warlike tribes of Europe fight for gain;
We fought for quiet.
If we were victors, then we all must live
With the same flag above us;
'Twas all in vain unless we now forgive
And make them love us.
Let kings keep trophies to display above
Their doors like any savage;
The freeman's trophy is the foeman's love,
Despite war's ravage.
'Make treason odious?' My friends, you'll find
You can't, in right and reason,
While 'Washington' and 'treason' are combined -
'Hugo' and 'treason.'
All human governments must take the chance
And hazard of sedition.
O wretch! to pledge your manhood in advance
To blind submission.
It may be wrong, it may be right, to rise
In warlike insurrection:
The loyalty that fools so dearly prize
May mean subjection.
Be loyal to your country, yes - but how
If tyrants hold dominion?
The South believed they did; can't you allow
For that opinion?
He who will never rise though rulers plot,
His liberties despising -
He is he manlier than the sans-culottes
Who's always rising?
Give back the foolish flags whose bearers fell,
Too valiant to forsake them.
Is it presumptuous, this counsel? Well,
I helped to take them.
Scheme | ABAB BCDC EFEF GHGH IJIJ KLKL XMXM NXNX OFOF PFPF DFDF QFQF XRBR SJSJ |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (93%) |
Metre | 1111011111 1100010 1111010101 1101 01011111 0111010 11111010101 01010 110101111 0100100 110111011 011 0101011101 1111010 111010111 11010 1101010111 1111111 1111010111 11111 1101001111 1101010 011110111 11110 1101011111 1011011 1101011101 01111 1111010101 1111010 010101011 01110 1101001111 1101010 1100010101 10010 1101001101 0101010 111111001 11010 1111111111 01010 0100111101 111 1101110111 1101010 0101111101 11010 1111011101 1100010 11111011 1110 1101011101 1101011 1101001101 11111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,802 |
Words | 338 |
Sentences | 25 |
Stanzas | 14 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 56 |
Letters per line (avg) | 26 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 102 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 24 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 20, 2023
- 1:43 min read
- 95 Views
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"The Confederate Flags" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 4 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1913/the-confederate-flags>.
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