Analysis of The Opposing Sex

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



The Widows of Ashur
Are loud in their wailing:
'No longer the 'masher'
Sees Widows of Ashur!'
So each is a lasher
Of Man's smallest failing.
The Widows of Ashur
Are loud in their wailing.

The Cave of Adullam,
That home of reviling
No wooing can gull 'em
In Cave of Adullam.
No angel can lull 'em
To cease their defiling
The Cave of Adullam,
That home of reviling.

At men they are cursing
The Widows of Ashur;
Themselves, too, for nursing
The men they are cursing.
The praise they're rehearsing
Of every slasher
At men. _They_ are cursing
The Widows of Ashur.


Scheme ABaaabAB CBcccbCB bAbbbabA
Poetic Form
Metre 010110 110110 11001 110110 111010 111010 010110 110110 0111 1111 110111 0111 110111 1111 0111 1111 111110 010110 011110 011110 011010 110010 111110 010110
Closest metre Iambic trimeter
Characters 543
Words 106
Sentences 9
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 8, 8, 8
Lines Amount 24
Letters per line (avg) 18
Words per line (avg) 4
Letters per stanza (avg) 145
Words per stanza (avg) 34
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

32 sec read
98

Ambrose Bierce

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist. more…

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