Detected
In Congress once great Mowther shone,Debating weighty matters;Now into an asylum thrown,He vacuously chatters.
If in that legislative hallHis wisdom still he 'd vented,It never had been known at allThat Mowther was demented.
Words in this poem
- congress n.
- A meeting of individuals, whether friendly or hostile; an encounter. [L. congressus, fr. congredi, p.p. -gressus, to go or come together; con- + grati to go or step, gradus step: cf. F. congr. See Grade.]
- debating n.
- The act of discussing or arguing; discussion. Debating society or club, a society or club for the purpose of debate and improvement in extemporaneous speaking.
- asylum n.
- A sanctuary or place of refuge and protection, where criminals and debtors found shelter, and from which they could not be forcibly taken without sacrilege.
- demented a.
- Insane; mad; of unsound mind. [From Dement.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Detected 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, Detected, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/detected.html, id L28167.
Form and metre
Detected is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in iambic 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 shoneA · mattersB · thrownA · chattersB
- 2 ABAB hallA · ventedB · allA · dementedB
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 tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| In Congress once great Mowther shone, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Debating weighty matters; | 7 | ˘/˘/˘/˘ |
| Now into an asylum thrown, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| He vacuously chatters. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| If in that legislative hall | 8 | ···/˘·˘· |
| His wisdom still he 'd vented, | 8 | ·/˘···/˘ |
| It never had been known at all | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| That Mowther was demented. | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
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.