Analysis of The Man Born Blind
Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)
A man born blind received his sight
By a painful operation;
And these are things he saw in the light
Of an infant observation.
He saw a merchant, good and wise.
And greatly, too, respected,
Who looked, to those imperfect eyes,
Like a swindler undetected.
He saw a patriot address
A noisy public meeting.
And said: 'Why, that's a calf. I guess.
That for the teat is bleating.'
A doctor stood beside a bed
And shook his summit sadly.
'O see that foul assassin!' said
The man who saw so badly.
He saw a lawyer pleading for
A thief whom they'd been jailing,
And said: 'That's an accomplice, or
My sight again is failing.'
Upon the Bench a Justice sat,
With nothing to restrain him;
''Tis strange,' said the observer, 'that
They ventured to unchain him.'
With theologic works supplied,
He saw a solemn preacher;
'A burglar with his kit,' he cried,
'To rob a fellow creature.'
A bluff old farmer next he saw
Sell produce in a village,
And said: 'What, what! is there no law
To punish men for pillage?'
A dame, tall, fair and stately, passed,
Who many charms united;
He thanked his stars his lot was cast
Where sepulchers were whited.
He saw a soldier stiff and stern,
'Full of strange oaths' and toddy;
But was unable to discern
A wound upon his body.
Ten square leagues of rolling ground
To one great man belonging,
Looked like one little grassy mound
With worms beneath it thronging.
A palace's well-carven stones,
Where Dives dwelt contented,
Seemed built throughout of human bones
With human blood cemented.
He watched the yellow shining thread
A silk-worm was a-spinning;
'That creature's coining gold.' he said,
'To pay some girl for sinning.'
His eyes were so untrained and dim
All politics, religions,
Arts, sciences, appeared to him
But modes of plucking pigeons.
And so he drew his final breath,
And thought he saw with sorrow
Some persons weeping for his death
Who'd be all smiles to-morrow.
Scheme | ABAB CDCD EFEF GHGH IFIF JKJK LMLM NXNX OPOD QAQH RFRF SPSP GFGF KTKT UVUV |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Quatrain (87%) Etheree (32%) |
Metre | 01110111 1010010 011111001 1110010 11010101 0101010 11110101 10100010 1101001 0101010 01110111 110111 01010101 0111010 11110101 0111110 11010101 0111110 01110101 1101110 01010101 1101011 11100101 110111 11101 1101010 01011111 1101010 01110111 1010010 01111111 1101110 01110101 1101010 11111111 11010 11010101 111101 11010101 0101110 1111101 1111010 11110101 110111 0100111 111010 11011101 1101010 11010101 0111010 1110111 1111110 11010101 110010 11000111 1111010 01111101 0111110 11010111 1111110 |
Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
Characters | 1,845 |
Words | 346 |
Sentences | 24 |
Stanzas | 15 |
Stanza Lengths | 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4 |
Lines Amount | 60 |
Letters per line (avg) | 24 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 98 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 22 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on March 15, 2023
- 1:42 min read
- 79 Views
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"The Man Born Blind" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/1946/the-man-born-blind>.
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