A Bit of Science
What! photograph in colors? 'Tis a dreamAnd he who dreams it is not overwise,If colors are vibration they but seem,And have no being. But if Tyndall lies,Why, come, then--photograph my lady's eyes.Nay, friend, you can't; the splendor of their blue,As on my own beclouded orbs they rest,To naught but vibratory motion's due,As heart, head, limbs and all I am attest.How could her eyes, at rest themselves, be makingIn me so uncontrollable a shaking?
Words in this poem
- overwise a.
- Too wise; affectedly wise.
- attest v. t.
- To bear witness to; to certify; to affirm to be true or genuine; as, to attest the truth of a writing, a copy of record. [L. attestari; ad + testari to bear witness: cf. F. attester.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Bit of Science is in the public domain. This text is taken from Shapes of Clay (1903), Project Gutenberg ebook #12658; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Ambrose Bierce, A Bit of Science, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/a-bit-of-science.html, id L28117.
Form and metre
A Bit of Science is 11 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABBCDCDEE. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABBCDCDEE dreamA · overwiseB · seemA · liesB · eyesB · blueC · restD · dueC · attestD · makingE · shakingE
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| What! photograph in colors? 'Tis a dream | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And he who dreams it is not overwise, | 10 | ·······/˘˘ |
| If colors are vibration they but seem, | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| And have no being. But if Tyndall lies, | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Why, come, then--photograph my lady's eyes. | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| Nay, friend, you can't; the splendor of their blue, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| As on my own beclouded orbs they rest, | 10 | ·········· |
| To naught but vibratory motion's due, | 10 | ···/˘˘˘/˘· |
| As heart, head, limbs and all I am attest. | 10 | ········˘/ |
| How could her eyes, at rest themselves, be making | 11 | ······˘/·/˘ |
| In me so uncontrollable a shaking? | 11 | ····˘/˘˘·/˘ |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.