Analysis of The Saint And The Monk
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
Saint Peter at the gate of Heaven displayed
The tools and terrors of his awful trade;
The key, the frown as pitiless as night,
That slays intending trespassers at sight,
And, at his side in easy reach, the curled
Interrogation points all ready to be hurled.
Straight up the shining cloudway (it so chanced
No others were about) a soul advanced
A fat, orbicular and jolly soul
With laughter-lines upon each rosy jowl-
A monk so prepossessing that the saint
Admired him, breathless, until weak and faint,
Forgot his frown and all his questions too,
Forgoing even the customary 'Who?'
Threw wide the gate and, with a friendly grin,
Said, ''Tis a very humble home, but pray walk in.'
The soul smiled pleasantly. 'Excuse me, please
Who's in there?' By insensible degrees
The impudence dispelled the saint's esteem,
As growing snores annihilate a dream.
The frown began to blacken on his brow,
His hand to reach for 'Whence?' and 'Why?' and 'How?'
'O, no offense, I hope,' the soul explained;
'I'm rather-well, particular. I've strained
A point in coming here at all; 'tis said
That Susan Anthony (I hear she's dead
At last) and all her followers are here.
As company, they'd be-confess it-rather queer.'
The saint replied, his rising anger past:
'What can I do?-the law is hard-and-fast,
Albeit unwritten and on earth unknown-
An oral order issued from the Throne.
By but one sin has Woman e'er incurred
God's wrath. To accuse Them Loud of that would be absurd.'
That friar sighed, but, calling up a smile,
Said, slowly turning on his heel the while:
'Farewell, my friend. Put up the chain and bar
I'm going, so please you, where the pretty women are.'
Scheme | AABBCC AXXXDDEEFF GGHHIIJJKKXX LLMMNN OOPP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11010111001 0101011101 0101110011 11010111 0111010101 00101110111 110101111 1100010101 0110101 1101011101 0111101 01011001101 0111011101 0101001001 1101010101 110101011110 0111000111 1011010001 01010101 110101001 0101110111 1111110101 1101110101 1101010011 0101011111 1101001111 1101010011 110011011101 0101110101 1111011101 01001001101 1101010101 11111101001 1110111111101 1101110101 1101011101 111110101 1101111010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,618 |
Words | 299 |
Sentences | 19 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 6, 10, 12, 6, 4 |
Lines Amount | 38 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 253 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 57 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:29 min read
- 45 Views
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