Analysis of Two Statesmen
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
In that fair city by the inland sea,
Where Blaine unhived his Presidential bee,
Frank Pixley's meeting with George Gorham sing,
Celestial muse, and what events did spring
From the encounter of those mighty sons
Of thunder, and of slaughter, and of guns.
Great Gorham first, his yearning tooth to sate
And give him stomach for the day's debate,
Entering a restaurant, with eager mien,
Demands an ounce of bacon and a bean.
The trembling waiter, by the statesman's eye
Smitten with terror, hastens to comply;
Nor chairs nor tables can his speed retard,
For famine's fixed and horrible regard
He takes for menace. As he shaking flew,
Lo! the portentous Pixley heaved in view!
Before him yawned invisible the cell,
Unheard, behind, the warden's footsteps fell.
Thrice in convention rising to his feet,
He thrice had been thrust back into his seat;
Thrice had protested, been reminded thrice
The nation had no need of his advice.
Balked of his will to set the people right,
His soul was gloomy though his hat was white,
So fierce his mien, with provident accord
The waiters swarmed him, thinking him a lord.
He spurned them, roaring grandly to their chief:
'Give me (Fred. Crocker pays) a leg of beef!'
His wandering eye's deluminating flame
Fell upon Gorham and the crisis came!
For Pixley scowled and darkness filled the room
Till Gorham's flashing orbs dispelled the gloom.
The patrons of the place, by fear dismayed,
Sprang to the street and left their scores unpaid.
So, when Jove thunders and his lightnings gleam
To sour the milk and curdle, too, the cream,
And storm-clouds gather on the shadowed hill,
The ass forsakes his hay, the pig his swill.
Hotly the heroes now engaged-their breath
Came short and hard, as in the throes of death.
They clenched their hands, their weapons brandished high,
Cut, stabbed, and hewed, nor uttered any cry,
But gnashed their teeth and struggled on! In brief,
One ate his bacon, t'other one his beef.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLMMNNOOPPQQRRSSTTFFNN |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 011101011 11110101 111011101 0101010111 1001011101 1100110011 1101110111 0111010101 1000101101 0111110001 01001010101 1011010101 1111011101 111010001 1111011101 1001010101 0111010001 010101011 1001010111 1111110111 1101010101 0101111101 1111110101 1111011111 1111110001 0101110101 1111010111 1111010111 1100111 1011000101 1101010101 111010101 0101011101 1101011101 1111001101 1100101101 0111010101 011110111 1001010111 1101100111 1111110101 1101110101 1111010101 11110110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,902 |
Words | 336 |
Sentences | 18 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 44 |
Lines Amount | 44 |
Letters per line (avg) | 35 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 1,530 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 333 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:43 min read
- 150 Views
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"Two Statesmen" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/2026/two-statesmen>.
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