An Interpretation

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



Now Lonergan appears upon the boards,
And Truth and Error sheathe their lingual swords.
No more in wordy warfare to engage,
The commentators bow before the stage,
And bookworms, militant for ages past,
Confess their equal foolishness at last,
Reread their Shakspeare in the newer light
And swear the meaning's obvious to sight.
For centuries the question has been hot:
Was Hamlet crazy, or was Hamlet not?
Now, Lonergan's illuminating art
Reveals the truth of the disputed 'part,'
And shows to all the critics of the earth
That Hamlet was an idiot from birth!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

29 sec read
102

Quick analysis:

Scheme AABBCCDDEEFFGG
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 554
Words 97
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

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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