Corrected News
'T was a maiden lady (the newspapers say)Pious and prim and a bit gone-gray.She slept like an angel, holy and white,Till ten o' the clock in the shank o' the night(When men and other wild animals prey)And then she cried in the viewless gloom:"There's a man in the room, a man in the room!"And this maiden lady (they make it appear)Leapt out of the window, five fathom sheer!
Alas, that lying is such a sinWhen newspaper men need bread and ginAnd none can be had for less than a lie!For the maiden lady a bit gone-graySaw the man in the room from across the way,And leapt, not out of the window but in--Ten fathom sheer, as I hope to die!
Words in this poem
- viewless a.
- Not perceivable by the eye; invisible; unseen.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Corrected News 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, Corrected News, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/corrected-news.html, id L28041.
Form and metre
Corrected News is 16 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 72%).
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 AABBACCDD sayA · grayA · whiteB · nightB · preyA · gloomC · roomC · appearD · sheerD
- 2 AABCCAB sinA · ginA · lieB · grayC · wayC · inA · dieB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| 'T was a maiden lady (the newspapers say) | 12 | ···/˘/˘·/·˘· |
| Pious and prim and a bit gone-gray. | 9 | /˘······· |
| She slept like an angel, holy and white, | 10 | ····/˘/˘·· |
| Till ten o' the clock in the shank o' the night | 11 | ··········· |
| (When men and other wild animals prey) | 10 | ···/˘·/˘˘· |
| And then she cried in the viewless gloom: | 9 | ······/˘· |
| "There's a man in the room, a man in the room!" | 11 | ··········· |
| And this maiden lady (they make it appear) | 11 | ··/˘/˘···˘/ |
| Leapt out of the window, five fathom sheer! | 10 | ····/˘·/˘· |
| Alas, that lying is such a sin | 9 | ˘/·/˘···· |
| When newspaper men need bread and gin | 9 | ·/·˘····· |
| And none can be had for less than a lie! | 10 | ·········· |
| For the maiden lady a bit gone-gray | 10 | ··/˘/˘···· |
| Saw the man in the room from across the way, | 11 | ·······˘/·· |
| And leapt, not out of the window but in-- | 10 | ······/˘·· |
| Ten fathom sheer, as I hope to die! | 9 | ·/˘······ |
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.