Analysis of A Railroad Lackey
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
Ben Truman, you're a genius and can write,
Though one would not suspect it from your looks.
You lack that certain spareness which is quite
Distinctive of the persons who make books.
You show the workmanship of Stanford's cooks
About the region of the appetite,
Where geniuses are singularly slight.
Your friends the Chinamen are understood,
Indeed, to speak of you as 'belly good.'
Still, you can write-spell, too, I understand
Though how two such accomplishments can go,
Like sentimental schoolgirls, hand in hand
Is more than ever I can hope to know.
To have one talent good enough to show
Has always been sufficient to command
The veneration of the brilliant band
Of railroad scholars, who themselves, indeed,
Although they cannot write, can mostly read.
There's Towne and Fillmore, Goodman and Steve Gage,
Ned Curtis of Napoleonic face,
Who used to dash his name on glory's page
'A.M.' appended to denote his place
Among the learned. Now the last faint trace
Of Nap. is all obliterate with age,
And Ned's degree less precious than his wage.
He says: 'I done it,' with his every breath.
'Thou canst not say I did it,' says Macbeth.
Good land! how I run on! I quite forgot
Whom this was meant to be about; for when
I think upon that odd, unearthly lot
Not quite Creedhaymonds, yet not wholly men
I'm dominated by my rebel pen
That, like the stubborn bird from which 'twas got,
Goes waddling forward if I will or not.
To leave your comrades, Ben, I'm now content:
I'll meet them later if I don't repent.
You've writ a letter, I observe-nay, more,
You've published it-to say how good you think
The coolies, and invite them to come o'er
In thicker quantity. Perhaps you drink
No corporation's wine, but love its ink;
Or when you signed away your soul and swore
On railrogue battle-fields to shed your gore
You mentally reserved the right to shed
The raiment of your character instead.
You're naked, anyhow: unragged you stand
In frank and stark simplicity of shame.
And here upon your flank, in letters grand,
The iron has marked you with your owner's name.
Needless, for none would steal and none reclaim.
But 'Leland $tanford' is a pretty brand,
Wrought by an artist with a cunning hand
But come-this naked unreserve is flat:
Don your habiliment-you're fat, you're fat!
Scheme | ABABBAACC DEDEEDDXF GHGHHGGII JKJKKJJLL MNXNNMMFF DODOODDPP |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1101010011 1111011111 111101111 0101010111 110101101 010101010 1100110001 1101101 0111111101 111111101 1111010011 10101101 1111011111 1111010111 111010101 001010101 111010101 111011101 1101010011 110100101 111111111 101010111 010110111 111101011 0101110111 11111111001 1111111101 1111111101 1111110111 1101110101 11111101 110011101 1101011111 111011111 111111110 1111011101 1101010111 1101111111 0100111110 0101000111 101011111 1111011101 111011111 1100010111 011110001 11010111 0101010011 0101110101 01011111101 1011110101 110110101 1111010101 11110111 1111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,225 |
Words | 403 |
Sentences | 24 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 9, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9 |
Lines Amount | 54 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 296 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 66 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:04 min read
- 63 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"A Railroad Lackey" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1653/a-railroad-lackey>.
Discuss this Ambrose Bierce poem analysis with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In