Analysis of For President, Leland Stanford

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



Mahomet Stanford, with covetous stare,
Gazed on a vision surpassingly fair:
Far on the desert's remote extreme
A mountain of gold with a mellow gleam
Reared its high pinnacles into the sky,
The work of _mirage_ to delude the eye.
Pixley Pasha, at the Prophet's feet
Piously licking them, swearing them sweet,
Ventured, observing his master's glance,
To beg that he order the mountain's advance.
Mahomet Stanford exerted his will,
Commanding: 'In Allah's name, hither, hill!'
Never an inch the mountain came.
Mahomet Stanford, with face aflame,
Lifted his foot and kicked, alack!
Pixley Pasha on the end of the back.
Mollified thus and smiling free,
He said: 'Since the mountain won't come to me,
I'll go to the mountain.' With infinite pains,
Camels in caravans, negroes in trains,
Warriors, workmen, women, and fools,
Food and water and mining tools
He gathered about him, a mighty array,
And the journey began at the close of day.
All night they traveled-at early dawn
Many a wearisome league had gone.
Morning broke fair with a golden sheen,
Mountain, alas, was nowhere seen!
Mahomet Stanford pounded his breast,
Pixley Pasha he thus addressed:
'Dog of mendacity, cheat and slave,
May jackasses sing o'er your grandfather's grave!'


Scheme AABBCCDDEEFFGGCHIIJJKKLLMMNNOOPP
Poetic Form
Metre 110111 1101011 11010101 0101110101 11110101 011110101 10011011 1001011011 100101101 11111001001 11001011 010011101 10110101 1101101 1011011 1001101101 1010101 1110101111 11101011001 100101001 100101001 10100101 11001101001 00100110111 111101101 100100111 101110101 1001111 1101011 10011101 110100101 111101101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,211
Words 208
Sentences 12
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 32
Lines Amount 32
Letters per line (avg) 30
Words per line (avg) 6
Letters per stanza (avg) 970
Words per stanza (avg) 203
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on April 21, 2023

1:04 min read
50

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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