Analysis of The Last Man
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
I dreamed that Gabriel took his horn
On Resurrection's fateful morn,
And lighting upon Laurel Hill
Blew long, blew loud, blew high and shrill.
The houses compassing the ground
Rattled their windows at the sound.
But no one rose. 'Alas!' said he,
'What lazy bones these mortals be!'
Again he plied the horn, again
Deflating both his lungs in vain;
Then stood astonished and chagrined
At raising nothing but the wind.
At last he caught the tranquil eye
Of an observer standing by
Last of mankind, not doomed to die.
To him thus Gabriel: 'Sir, I pray
This mystery you'll clear away.
Why do I sound my note in vain?
Why spring they not from out the plain?
Where's Luning, Blythe and Michael Reese,
Magee, who ran the _Golden Fleece?
Where's Asa Fisk? Jim Phelan, who
Was thought to know a thing or two
Of land which rose but never sank?
Where's Con O'Conor of the Bank,
And all who consecrated lands
Of old by laying on of hands?
I ask of them because their worth
Was known in all they wished-the earth.
Brisk boomers once, alert and wise,
Why don't they rise, why don't they rise?'
The man replied: 'Reburied long
With others of the shrouded throng
In San Mateo-carted there
And dumped promiscuous, anywhere,
In holes and trenches-all misfits
Mixed up with one another's bits:
One's back-bone with another's shin,
A third one's skull with a fourth one's grin
Your eye was never, never fixed
Upon a company so mixed!
Go now among them there and blow:
'Twill be as good as any show
To see them, when they hear the tones,
Compiling one another's bones!
But here 'tis vain to sound and wait:
Naught rises here but real estate.
I own it all and shan't disgorge.
Don't know me? I am Henry George.'
Scheme | AABBCCDDEFGHIIIJJFFKKLLMMNNOOPPQQRRSSTTUUVVWWXXYY |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 111100111 11101 01001101 11111101 010101 10110101 11110111 11011101 01110101 01011101 11010001 11010101 11110101 11010101 11111111 111100111 11001101 11111101 11111101 1110101 0111011 11011101 11110111 11111101 111101 0111001 11110111 11110111 11011101 11010101 11111111 010111 11010101 01010101 0110010 0101011 11110101 11110101 011110111 11110101 01010011 11011101 11111101 11111101 01010101 11111101 11011101 111101101 11111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,648 |
Words | 312 |
Sentences | 23 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 49 |
Lines Amount | 49 |
Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,304 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 306 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:37 min read
- 124 Views
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"The Last Man" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1939/the-last-man>.
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