Analysis of A Soaring Toad
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
So, Governor, you would not serve again
Although we'd all agree to pay you double.
You find it all is vanity and pain
One clump of clover in a field of stubble
One grain of pleasure in a peck of trouble.
'Tis sad, at your age, having to complain
Of disillusion; but the fault is whose
When pigmies stumble, wearing giants' shoes?
I humbly told you many moons ago
For high preferment you were all unfit.
A clumsy bear makes but a sorry show
Climbing a pole. Let him, judicious, sit
With dignity at bottom of his pit,
And none his awkwardness will ever know.
Some beasts look better, and feel better, too,
Seen from above; and so, I think, would you.
Why, you were mad! Did you suppose because
Our foolish system suffers foolish men
To climb to power, make, enforce the laws,
And, it is whispered, break them now and then,
We love the fellows and respect them when
We've stilled the volume of our loud hurrahs?
When folly blooms we trample it the more
For having fertilized it heretofore.
Behold yon laborer! His garb is mean,
His face is grimy, but who thinks to ask
The measure of his brains? 'Tis only seen
He's fitted for his honorable task,
And so delights the mind. But let him bask
In droll prosperity, absurdly clean
Is that the man whom we admired before?
Good Lord, how ignorant, and what a bore!
Better for you that thoughtless men had said
(Noting your fitness in the humbler sphere):
'Why don't they make him Governor?' instead
Of, 'Why the devil did they?' But I fear
My words on your inhospitable ear
Are wasted like a sermon to the dead.
Still, they may profit you if studied well:
You can't be taught to think, but may to spell.
Scheme | ABABBACC DEDEEDFF GAGAACHH IJIJJIHH KLKLLKMM |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 1100111101 1110111110 1111110001 11110001110 11110001110 1111110101 101010111 111010101 1101110101 11110101 0101110101 1001110101 1100110111 0111001101 1111001101 1101011111 1101110101 10101010101 1111010101 0111011101 1101000111 1101011011 1101110101 11010101 0111001111 1111011111 0101111101 1101110001 0101011111 0101000101 11011101001 1111000101 1011110111 10110001001 1111110001 1101011111 1111010001 1101010101 1111011101 1111111111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,612 |
Words | 309 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 5 |
Stanza Lengths | 8, 8, 8, 8, 8 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 255 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 61 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:33 min read
- 115 Views
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"A Soaring Toad" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 7 Sep. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1661/a-soaring-toad>.
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