A Possibility
If the wicked gods were willing(Pray it never may be true!)That a universal chillingShould ensueOf the sentiment of loving,--If they made a great undoingOf the plan of turtle-doving,Then farewell all poet-lore,Evermore.If there were no more of billingThere would be no more of cooingAnd we all should be but owls--Lonely fowlsBlinking wonderfully wise,With our great round eyes--Sitting singly in the gloaming and no longer two and two,As unwilling to be wedded as unpracticed how to woo;With regard to being mated,Asking still with aggravatedUngrammatical acerbity: "To who? To who?"
Words in this poem
- ensue v. t.
- To follow; to pursue; to follow and overtake. [OF. ensevre, OF. & F. ensuivre, fr. L. insequi; in + sequi to pursue. See Sue.]
- undoing n.
- The reversal of what has been done.
- evermore adv.
- During eternity; always; forever; for an indefinite period; at all times; -- often used substantively with for.
- billing a.
- Caressing; kissing.
- gloaming n.
- Twilight; dusk; the fall of the evening. [Scot. & North of Eng., and in poetry.] Hogg. [See Gloom.]
- wedded a.
- Joined in wedlock; married.
- acerbity n.
- Sourness of taste, with bitterness and astringency, like that of unripe fruit. [F. acerbité, L. acerbitas, fr. acerbus. See Acerb.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
A Possibility 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 Possibility, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/a-possibility.html, id L28008.
Form and metre
A Possibility is 20 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in rhyming couplets, other poems in trochaic tetrameter.
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 ABAB-CADDACEEFFBBGGB willingA · trueB · chillingA · ensueB · loving · undoingC · dovingA · loreD · evermoreD · billingA · cooingC · owlsE · fowlsE · wiseF · eyesF · twoB · wooB · matedG · aggravatedG · whoB
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| If the wicked gods were willing | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| (Pray it never may be true!) | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| That a universal chilling | 8 | ···˘/˘/˘ |
| Should ensue | 3 | ·˘/ |
| Of the sentiment of loving,-- | 8 | ··/˘˘·/˘ |
| If they made a great undoing | 8 | ·····˘/˘ |
| Of the plan of turtle-doving, | 8 | ····/˘·· |
| Then farewell all poet-lore, | 7 | ··/·/˘· |
| Evermore. | 3 | /˘· |
| If there were no more of billing | 8 | ······/˘ |
| There would be no more of cooing | 8 | ······/˘ |
| And we all should be but owls-- | 7 | ······· |
| Lonely fowls | 3 | /˘· |
| Blinking wonderfully wise, | 7 | /˘/˘˘˘· |
| With our great round eyes-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Sitting singly in the gloaming and no longer two and two, | 15 | /˘/˘··/˘··/˘··· |
| As unwilling to be wedded as unpracticed how to woo; | 15 | ·˘/˘··/˘······· |
| With regard to being mated, | 8 | ·˘/·/˘/˘ |
| Asking still with aggravated | 8 | /˘··/˘·˘ |
| Ungrammatical acerbity: "To who? To who?" | 13 | ·····˘/˘˘···· |
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.