Analysis of The Spirit Of A Sponge
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
I dreamed one night that Stephen Massett died,
And for admission up at Heaven applied.
'Who are you?' asked St. Peter. Massett said:
'Jeems Pipes, of Pipesville.' Peter bowed his head,
Opened the gates and said: 'I'm glad to know you,
And wish we'd something better, sir, to show you.'
'Don't mention it,' said Stephen, looking bland,
And was about to enter, hat in hand,
When from a cloud below such fumes arose
As tickled tenderly his conscious nose.
He paused, replaced his hat upon his head,
Turned back and to the saintly warden said,
O'er his already sprouting wings: 'I swear
I smell some broiling going on down there!'
So Massett's paunch, attracted by the smell,
Followed his nose and found a place in Hell.
Scheme | AABBCCDDEEBBFFGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111110101 01010111001 1111110101 111110111 10010111111 01110101111 1101110101 0101110101 1101011101 1101001101 111110111 1101010101 10101010111 1111010111 111010101 1011010101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 709 |
Words | 133 |
Sentences | 10 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 16 |
Lines Amount | 16 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 548 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 126 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 39 sec read
- 103 Views
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"The Spirit Of A Sponge" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 14 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1972/the-spirit-of-a-sponge>.
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