Analysis of A Hasty Inference
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
The Devil one day, coming up from the Pit,
All grimy with perspiration,
Applied to St. Peter and begged he'd admit
Him a moment for consultation.
The Saint showed him in where the Master reclined
On the throne where petitioners sought him;
Both bowed, and the Evil One opened his mind
Concerning the business that brought him:
'For ten million years I've been kept in a stew
Because you have thought me immoral;
And though I have had my opinion of you,
You've had the best end of the quarrel.
'But now-well, I venture to hope that the past
With its misunderstandings we'll smother;
And you, sir, and I, sir, be throned here at last
As equals, the one to the other.'
'Indeed!' said the Master (I cannot convey
A sense of his tone by mere letters)
'What makes you presume you'll be bidden to stay
Up here on such terms with your betters?'
'Why, sure you can't mean it!' said Satan. 'I've seen
How Stanford and Crocker you've nourished,
And Huntington-bless me! the three like a green
Umbrageous great bay-tree have flourished.
They are fat, they are rolling in gold, they command
All sources and well-springs of power;
You've given them houses, you've given them land
Before them the righteous all cower.'
'What of that?' 'What of that?' cried the Father of Sin;
'Why, I thought when I saw you were winking
At crimes such as theirs that perhaps you had been
Converted to my way of thinking.'
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IJIJ KLKL MHMH NONO |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain |
Metre | 01011101101 1101010 01111001101 10101010 01110101001 1011010011 11001011011 010010111 11101111001 011111010 01111101011 110111010 11111011101 110010110 01101111111 110011010 01101011001 011111110 11101111011 111111110 11111111011 110010110 01001101101 1111110 111111001101 110011110 11011011011 011010110 111111101011 1111111010 11111101111 010111110 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,366 |
Words | 259 |
Sentences | 15 |
Stanzas | 8 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 32 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 134 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 31 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:18 min read
- 40 Views
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"A Hasty Inference" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 11 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1625/a-hasty-inference>.
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