Analysis of The Humorist
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
'What is that, mother?'
'The funny man, child.
His hands are black, but his heart is mild.'
'May I touch him, mother?'
''T were foolishly done:
He is slightly touched already, my son.'
'O, why does he wear such a ghastly grin?'
'That's the outward sign of a joke within.'
'Will he crack it, mother?'
'Not so, my saint;
'T is meant for the _Saturday Livercomplaint.'
'Does he suffer, mother?'
'God help him, yes!
A thousand and fifty kinds of distress.'
'What makes him sweat so?'
'The demons that lurk
In the fear of having to go to work.'
'Why doesn't he end, then, his life with a rope?'
'Abolition of Hell has deprived him of hope.'
Scheme | ABB ACC DD AXB AEE XFF GG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11110 01011 111111111 111110 101001 1110101011 1111110101 1010110101 111110 1111 1111011 111010 1111 0100101101 11111 01011 0011101111 11011111101 01011101111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 625 |
Words | 133 |
Sentences | 17 |
Stanzas | 7 |
Stanza Lengths | 3, 3, 2, 3, 3, 3, 2 |
Lines Amount | 19 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 65 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 17 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 36 sec read
- 93 Views
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"The Humorist" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1934/the-humorist>.
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