Analysis of To One Detested

Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)



Sir, you're a veteran, revealed
In history and fable
As warrior since you took the field,
Defeating Abel.

As Commissary later (or
If not, in every cottage
The tale is) you contracted for
A mess of pottage.

In civil life you were, we read
(And our respect increases)
A man of peace-a man, indeed,
Of thirty pieces.

To paying taxes when you turned
Your mind, or what you call so,
A wide celebrity you earned
Saphira also.

In every age, by various names,
You've won renown in story,
But on your present record flames
A greater glory.

Cain, Esau, and Iscariot, too,
And Ananias, likewise,
Each had peculiar powers, but who
Could lie as Mike lies?


Scheme ABAB CDCD XEXE FGFG HIHI JKJK
Poetic Form Quatrain 
Metre 11010001 0100010 110011101 01010 1100101 11010010 01111001 0111 01011011 01001010 01110101 11010 11010111 1111111 01010011 01010 0100111001 1101010 11110011 01010 11001001 011 110101011 11111
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 627
Words 118
Sentences 7
Stanzas 6
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 21
Words per line (avg) 5
Letters per stanza (avg) 83
Words per stanza (avg) 19
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

36 sec read
92

Ambrose Bierce

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist. more…

All Ambrose Bierce poems | Ambrose Bierce Books

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