Authority
"Authority, authority!" they shoutWhose minds, not large enough to hold a doubt,Some chance opinion ever entertain,By dogma billeted upon their brain."Ha!" they exclaim with choreatic glee,"Here's Dabster if you won't give in to me--Dabster, sir, Dabster, to whom all men lookWith reverence!" The fellow wrote a book.It matters not that many another wightHas thought more deeply, could more wisely writeOn t' other side--that you yourself possessKnowledge where Dabster did but faintly guess.God help you if ambitious to persuadeThe fools who take opinion ready-madeAnd "recognize authorities." Be sureNo tittle of their folly they'll abjureFor all that you can say. But write it down,Publish and die and get a great renown--Faith! how they'll snap it up, misread, misquote,Swear that they had a hand in all you wrote,And ride your fame like monkeys on a goat!
Words in this poem
- glee n.
- Music; minstrelsy; entertainment.
- dabster n.
- One who is skilled; a master of his business; a proficient; an adept. [Cf. Dab an expert.]
- wrote v. i.
- To root with the snout. See 1st Root. [OE. wroten. See 1st Root.]
- wight n.
- A whit; a bit; a jot. [OE. wight, wiht, a wight, a whit, AS. wiht, wuht, a creature, a thing; skin to D. wicht a child, OS. & OHG. wiht a creature, thing, G. wicht a creature, Icel. v]
- tittle n.
- A particle; a minute part; a jot; an iota. [OE. titel, titil, apparently a dim. of tit, in the sense of small; cf. G. tüttel a tittle, dim. of OHG. tutta teat. Perhaps, however, the same word as title, n.]
- abjure v. t.
- To renounce upon oath; to forswear; to disavow; as, to abjure allegiance to a prince. To abjure the realm, is to swear to abandon it forever. [L. abjurare to deny upon oath; ab + jurare to swear, fr. jus, juris, right, law; cf. F. abjurer. See Jury.]
- misread v. t.
- To read amiss; to misunderstand in reading.
- misquote v. t.
- To quote erroneously or incorrectly.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Authority 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, Authority, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/authority.html, id L28094.
Form and metre
Authority is 21 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets, 95% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJI shoutA · doubtA · entertainB · brainB · gleeC · meC · lookD · bookD · wightE · writeE · possessF · guessF · persuadeG · madeG · sureH · abjureH · downI · renownI · misquoteJ · wroteJ · goatI
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 |
|---|---|---|
| "Authority, authority!" they shout | 10 | ˘/˘˘˘/˘˘·· |
| Whose minds, not large enough to hold a doubt, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| Some chance opinion ever entertain, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| By dogma billeted upon their brain. | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···· |
| "Ha!" they exclaim with choreatic glee, | 9 | ··˘/····· |
| "Here's Dabster if you won't give in to me-- | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Dabster, sir, Dabster, to whom all men look | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| With reverence!" The fellow wrote a book. | 10 | ·/˘˘·/˘··· |
| It matters not that many another wight | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Has thought more deeply, could more wisely write | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| On t' other side--that you yourself possess | 11 | ··/˘···˘/˘/ |
| Knowledge where Dabster did but faintly guess. | 10 | /˘·/˘··/˘· |
| God help you if ambitious to persuade | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| The fools who take opinion ready-made | 10 | ····˘/˘/˘· |
| And "recognize authorities." Be sure | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘˘·· |
| No tittle of their folly they'll abjure | 10 | ·/˘··/˘·˘/ |
| For all that you can say. But write it down, | 10 | ·········· |
| Publish and die and get a great renown-- | 10 | /˘······˘/ |
| Faith! how they'll snap it up, misread, misquote, | 10 | ······˘/˘/ |
| Swear that they had a hand in all you wrote, | 10 | ·········· |
| And ride your fame like monkeys on a goat! | 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.