Analysis of To 'Colonel' Dan. Burns
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
They say, my lord, that you're a Warwick. Well,
The title's an absurd one, I believe:
You make no kings, you have no kings to sell,
Though really 'twere easy to conceive
You stuffing half-a-dozen up your sleeve.
No, you're no Warwick, skillful from the shell
To hatch out sovereigns. On a mare's nest, maybe,
You'd incubate a little jackass baby.
I fancy, too, that it is naught but stuff,
This 'power' that you're said to be 'behind
The throne.' I'm sure 'twere accurate enough
To represent you simply as inclined
To push poor Markham (ailing in his mind
And body, which were never very tough)
Round in an invalid's wheeled chair. Such menial
Employment to low natures is congenial.
No, Dan, you're an impostor every way:
A human bubble, for 'the earth,' you know,
'Hath bubbles, as the water hath.' Some day
Some careless hand will prick your film, and O,
How utterly you'll vanish! Daniel, throw
(As fallen Woolsey might to Cromwell say)
Your curst ambition to the pigs-though truly
'Twould make them greater pigs, and more unruly.
Scheme | ABABBACC DEDEEDFF GHGHHGCC |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1111110101 011011101 1111111111 110110101 1101010111 1111010101 11110101110 110010110 1101111111 1101111101 0111110001 101110101 1111010011 0101010101 1011111100 01011101010 11110101001 0101010111 1101010111 1101111101 1100110101 1101011101 11010101110 11110101010 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,019 |
Words | 185 |
Sentences | 11 |
Stanzas | 3 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 24 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 264 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 60 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 57 sec read
- 49 Views
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"To 'Colonel' Dan. Burns" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 9 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/2005/to-%27colonel%27-dan.-burns>.
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