Analysis of The Wise And Good
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
'O father, I saw at the church as I passed
The populace gathered in numbers so vast
That they couldn't get in; and their voices were low,
And they looked as if suffering terrible woe.'
''Twas the funeral, child, of a gentleman dead
For whom the great heart of humanity bled.'
'What made it bleed, father, for every day
Somebody passes forever away?
Do the newspaper men print a column or more
Of every person whose troubles are o'er?'
'O, no; they could never do that-and indeed,
Though printers might print it, no reader would read.
To the sepulcher all, soon or late, must be borne,
But 'tis only the Wise and the Good that all mourn.'
'That's right, father dear, but how can our eyes
Distinguish in dead men the Good and the Wise?'
'That's easy enough to the stupidest mind:
They're poor, and in dying leave nothing behind.'
'Seest thou in mine eye, father, anything green?
And takest thy son for a gaping marine?
Go tell thy fine tale of the Wise and the Good
Who are poor and lamented to babes in the wood.'
And that horrible youth as I hastened away
Was building a wink that affronted the day.
Scheme | AABB CC DDXX XCEE FF GG HHII DD |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11011101111 01001001011 111010011001 011111001001 101001101001 11011101001 11111011001 101001001 10101101011 110010110110 11111011001 11011111011 1011111111 111001001111 11101111101 01001101001 11001101001 11001011001 1101110101 0111101001 11111101001 111001011001 011001111001 11001101001 |
Closest metre | Iambic hexameter |
Characters | 1,084 |
Words | 212 |
Sentences | 13 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 2, 4, 4, 2, 2, 4, 2 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 105 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 25 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:03 min read
- 86 Views
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