A Guest
Death, are you well? I trust you have no coughThat's painful or in any way annoying--No kidney trouble that may carry you off,Or heart disease to keep you from enjoyingYour meals--and ours. 'T were very sad indeedTo have to quit the busy life you lead.
You've been quite active lately for so oldA person, and not very strong-appearing.I'm apprehensive, somehow, that my bold,Bad brother gave you trouble in the spearing.And my two friends--I fear, sir, that you ranQuite hard for them, especially the man.
I crave your pardon: 'twas no fault of mine;If you are overworked I'm sorry, very.Come in, old man, and have a glass of wine.What shall it be--Marsala, Port or Sherry?What! just a mug of blood? That's funny grogTo ask a friend for, eh? Well, take it, hog!
Words in this poem
- somehow adv.
- In one way or another; in some way not yet known or designated; by some means; as, the thing must be done somehow; he lives somehow.
- crave v. t.
- To ask with earnestness or importunity; to ask with submission or humility; to beg; to entreat; to beseech; to implore. [AS. crafian; akin to Icel. krefia, Sw. kr, Dan. kr.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- funny a.
- Droll; comical; amusing; laughable. Funny bone. See crazy bone, under Crazy. [From Fun.]
- grog n.
- A mixture of spirit and water not sweetened; hence, any intoxicating liquor. Grog blossom, a redness on the nose or face of persons who drink ardent spirits to excess. [Collog.] [So named fronm "Old Grog" a nickmname given to Admiral Vernon, in allusion to his wearing a grogram cloak in foul weather. He is said to have been the first to ]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Guest 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 Guest, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/a-guest.html, id L28176.
Form and metre
A Guest is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
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 ABABCC coughA · annoyingB · offA · enjoyingB · indeedC · leadC
- 2 ABABCC oldA · appearingB · boldA · spearingB · ranC · manC
- 3 ABABCC mineA · veryB · wineA · sherryB · grogC · hogC
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Death, are you well? I trust you have no cough | 10 | ·········· |
| That's painful or in any way annoying-- | 11 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/˘ |
| No kidney trouble that may carry you off, | 11 | ·/˘/˘··/˘·· |
| Or heart disease to keep you from enjoying | 11 | ··˘/····˘/˘ |
| Your meals--and ours. 'T were very sad indeed | 11 | ···/··/˘·˘/ |
| To have to quit the busy life you lead. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| You've been quite active lately for so old | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| A person, and not very strong-appearing. | 11 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/˘ |
| I'm apprehensive, somehow, that my bold, | 10 | ··˘/˘/···· |
| Bad brother gave you trouble in the spearing. | 11 | ·/˘··/˘··/˘ |
| And my two friends--I fear, sir, that you ran | 10 | ·········· |
| Quite hard for them, especially the man. | 9 | ····˘/˘·· |
| I crave your pardon: 'twas no fault of mine; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| If you are overworked I'm sorry, very. | 11 | ····˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Come in, old man, and have a glass of wine. | 10 | ·········· |
| What shall it be--Marsala, Port or Sherry? | 11 | ····˘/˘··/˘ |
| What! just a mug of blood? That's funny grog | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| To ask a friend for, eh? Well, take it, hog! | 10 | ·········· |
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.