Analysis of A Commuted Sentence
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
Boruck and Waterman upon their grills
In Hades lay, with many a sigh and groan,
Hotly disputing, for each swore his own
Were clearly keener than the other's ills.
And, truly, each had much to boast of-bone
And sinew, muscle, tallow, nerve and skin,
Blood in the vein and marrow in the shin,
Teeth, eyes and other organs (for the soul
Has all of these and even a wagging chin)
Blazing and coruscating like a coal!
For Lower Sacramento, you remember,
Has trying weather, even in mid-December.
Now this occurred in the far future. All
Mankind had been a million ages dead,
And each to her reward above had sped,
Each to his punishment below,-I call
That quite a just arrangement. As I said,
Boruck and Waterman in warmest pain
Crackled and sizzed with all their might and main.
For, when on earth, they'd freed a scurvy host
Of crooks from the State prison, who again
Had robbed and ravaged the Pacific Coast
And (such the felon's predatory nature)
Even got themselves into the Legislature.
So Waterman and Boruck lay and roared
In Hades. It is true all other males
Felt the like flames and uttered equal wails,
But did not suffer _them_; whereas _they_ bored
Each one the other. But indeed my tale's
Not getting on at all. They lay and browned
Till Boruck (who long since his teeth had ground
Away and spoke Gum Arabic and made
Stump speeches even in praying) looked around
And said to Bob's incinerated shade:
'Your Excellency, this is mighty hard on
The inventors of the unpardonable pardon.'
The other soul-his right hand all aflame,
For 'twas with that he'd chiefly sinned, although
His tongue, too, like a wick was working woe
To the reserve of tallow in his frame-
Said, with a sputtering, uncertain flow,
And with a gesture like a shaken torch:
'Yes, but I'm sure we'll not much longer scorch.
Although this climate is not good for Hope,
Whose joyous wing 'twould singe, I think the porch
Of Hell we'll quit with a pacific slope.
Last century I signified repentance
And asked for commutation of our sentence.'
Even as he spoke, the form of Satan loomed
In sight, all crimson with reflections's fire,
Like some tall tower or cathedral spire
Touched by the dawn while all the earth is gloomed
In mists and shadows of the night time. 'Sire,'
Said Waterman, his agitable wick
Still sputtering, 'what calls you back so quick?
It scarcely was a century ago
You left us.' 'I have come to bring,' said Nick,
'St. Peter's answer (he is never slow
In correspondence) to your application
For pardon-pardon me!-for commutation.
'He says that he's instructed to reply
(And he has so instructed me) that sin
Like yours-and this poor gentleman's who's in
For bad advice to you-comes rather high;
But since, apparently, you both begin
To feel some pious promptings to the right,
And fain would turn your faces to the light,
Eternity seems all too long a term.
So 'tis commuted to one-half. I'm quite
Prepared, when that expires, to free the worm
And quench the fire.' And, civilly retreating,
He left them holding their protracted meeting.
Scheme | ABBABCCDCDEE FGGFGHHIXIEE JKKJALLMLMXN OPPOPQQRQRSS XEXGETTPTPNN UCCUCVVWVWXX |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 101000111 01011100101 1001011111 0101010101 0101111111 011010101 1001010001 1101010101 11110100101 1001101 1100101010 110101001010 1101001101 1111010101 0110010111 1111000111 1101010111 101000101 1001111101 111111011 1110110101 1101000101 010110010 10101010100 110001101 0101111101 1011010101 1111010111 1101010111 1101111101 111111111 0101110001 11010010101 011101001 1110111011 001010110 0101111101 111111011 1111011101 1001110011 1101000101 0101010101 1111111101 111011111 1101111101 1111100101 1100110010 01101011010 10111011101 011101110 1111010101 1101110111 0101101110 1100111 1100111111 1101010001 1111111111 1101011101 001011010 1101011010 1111010101 0111010111 110111010 1101111101 1101001101 111101101 0111110101 0100111101 1101011111 01110101101 010100100010 11110101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 2,965 |
Words | 542 |
Sentences | 25 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12 |
Lines Amount | 72 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 395 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 89 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 2:45 min read
- 106 Views
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"A Commuted Sentence" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 31 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1609/a-commuted-sentence>.
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