The Pun
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
Hail, peerless Pun! thou last and best,
Most rare and excellent bequest
Of dying idiot to the wit
He died of, rat-like, in a pit!
Thyself disguised, in many a way
Thou let'st thy sudden splendor play,
Adorning all where'er it turns,
As the revealing bull's-eye burns,
Of the dim thief, and plays its trick
Upon the lock he means to pick.
Yet sometimes, too, thou dost appear
As boldly as a brigadier
Tricked out with marks and signs, all o'er,
Of rank, brigade, division, corps,
To show by every means he can
An officer is not a man;
Or naked, with a lordly swagger,
Proud as a cur without a wagger,
Who says: 'See simple worth prevail
All dog, sir-not a bit of tail!'
'T is then men give thee loudest welcome,
As if thou wert a soul from Hell come.
O obvious Pun! thou hast the grace
Of skeleton clock without a case
With all its boweling displayed,
And all its organs on parade.
Dear Pun, you're common ground of bliss,
Where _Punch_ and I can meet and kiss;
Than thee my wit can stoop no low'r
No higher his does ever soar.
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 1:00 min read
- 74 Views
Quick analysis:
Scheme | AABB CCDDEE FFGHIIGFJJ KK LLMM NNXH |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,005 |
Words | 198 |
Stanzas | 6 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 6, 10, 2, 4, 4 |
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"The Pun" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/1964/the-pun>.
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