Analysis of Auguries



The ancients put tremendous matters
On oracles and auguries.  
When godhood speaks, the priest agrees.
Glib cunning fails when trouble batters.  
Calculations have a thousand ways
To err, while chance can cut the odds
To one in ten, or more if gods
Drop hints about our dossiers.  
Augurs read events to come
From entrails, bones, and scattered sticks.  
Their guesses are arithmetics
For problems reasoning can’t sum.  


Scheme AABACDDCEFAE
Poetic Form
Metre 010101010 110001 1110101 110111010 01010101 11111101 11011111 1101101 1010111 11010101 11011 11010011
Closest metre Iambic tetrameter
Characters 429
Words 78
Sentences 7
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 12
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 28
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 332
Words per stanza (avg) 67

About this poem

The idea for this poem came from Montaigne’s essay on prognostication. Agammemon slipped in later.

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Submitted by DavidPlantinga on January 17, 2022

Modified on March 05, 2023

23 sec read
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