Analysis of The Debtor Abroad

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



Grief for an absent lover, husband, friend,
Is barely felt before it comes to end:
A score of early consolations serve
To modify its mouth's dejected curve.
But woes of creditors when debtors flee
Forever swell the separating sea.
When standing on an alien shore you mark
The steady course of some intrepid bark,
How sweet to think a tear for you abides,
Not all unuseful, in the wave she rides!
That sighs for you commingle in the gale
Beneficently bellying her sail!


Scheme AABBCCDDEEFF
Poetic Form
Metre 1111010101 1101011111 011100101 110110101 1111001101 010101001 11011100111 0101110101 1111011101 11100111 1111010001 1101
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 465
Words 85
Sentences 5
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 12
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 31
Words per line (avg) 7
Letters per stanza (avg) 374
Words per stanza (avg) 83
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

25 sec read
313

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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