Analysis of In Upper San Francisco
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
I heard that Heaven was bright and fair,
And politicians dwelt not there.
'Twas said by knowing ones that they
Were in the Elsewhere-so to say.
So, waking from my last long sleep,
I took my place among the sheep.
I passed the gate-Saint Peter eyed
Me sharply as I stepped inside.
He thought, as afterward I learned,
That I was Chris, the Unreturned.
The new Jerusalem-ah me,
It was a sorry sight to see!
The mansions of the blest were there,
And mostly they were fine and fair;
But O, such streets!-so deep and wide,
And all unpaved, from side to side!
And in a public square there grew
A blighted tree, most sad to view.
From off its trunk the bark was ripped
Its very branches all were stripped!
An angel perched upon the fence
With all the grace of indolence.
'Celestial bird,' I cried, in pain,
'What vandal wrought this wreck? Explain.'
He raised his eyelids as if tired:
'What is a Vandal?' he inquired.
'This is the Tree of Life. 'Twas stripped
By Durst and Siebe, who have shipped
'The bark across the Jordan-see?
And sold it to a tannery.'
'Alas,' I sighed, 'their old-time tricks!
That pavement, too, of golden bricks
'They've gobbled that?' But with a scowl,
'You greatly wrong them,' said the fowl:
''Twas Gilleran did that, I fear-
Head of the Street Department here.'
'What! what!' cried I-'you let such chaps
Come here? You've Satan, too, perhaps.'
'We had him, yes, but off he went,
Yet showed some purpose to repent;
'But since your priests and parsons filled
The place with those their preaching killed'
(Here Siebe passed along with Durst,
Psalming as if their lungs would burst)
'He swears his foot no more shall press
('Tis cloven, anyhow, I guess)
'Our soil. In short, he's out on strike
But devils are not all alike.'
Lo! Gilleran came down the street,
Pressing the soil with broad, flat feet!
Scheme | AA BB CC DD XD EE AA DD FF GG HH II JJ GG EA KK LL XX MM NN OO PP QQ RR SS |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (30%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 111101101 0010111 11110111 0001111 11011111 11110101 11011101 11011101 11110011 111101 01010011 11010111 01010101 01010101 11111101 0111111 00010111 01011111 11110111 11010101 11010101 110111 01011101 11011101 11111110 110101010 11011111 1101111 01010101 011101 01111111 11011101 11011101 11011101 11001111 11010101 11111111 11110101 11111111 11110101 11110101 01111101 1110111 1111111 11111111 111011 101011111 11011101 11001101 10011111 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,775 |
Words | 340 |
Sentences | 30 |
Stanzas | 25 |
Stanza Lengths | 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2 |
Lines Amount | 50 |
Letters per line (avg) | 28 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 55 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 13 |
Font size:
Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:40 min read
- 79 Views
Citation
Use the citation below to add this poem analysis to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"In Upper San Francisco" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1813/in-upper-san-francisco>.
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