Election Day
Despots effete upon tottering thronesUnsteadily poised upon dead men's bones,Walk up! walk up! the circus is free,And this wonderful spectacle you shall see:Millions of voters who mostly are fools--Demagogues' dupes and candidates' tools,Armies of uniformed mountebanks,And braying disciples of brainless cranks.Many a week they've bellowed like beeves,Bitterly blackguarding, lying like thieves,Libeling freely the quick and the deadAnd painting the New Jerusalem red.Tyrants monarchical--emperors, kings,Princes and nobles and all such things--Noblemen, gentlemen, step this way:There's nothing, the Devil excepted, to pay,And the freaks and curios here to be seenAre very uncommonly grand and serene.
No more with vivacity they debate,Nor cheerfully crack the illogical pate;No longer, the dull understanding to aid,The stomach accepts the instructive blade,Nor the stubborn heart learns what is whatFrom a revelation of rabbit-shot;And vilification's flames--behold!Burn with a bickering faint and cold.
Magnificent spectacle!--every tongueSuddenly civil that yesterday rung(Like a clapper beating a brazen bell)Each fair reputation's eternal knell;Hands no longer delivering blows,And noses, for counting, arrayed in rows.
Walk up, gentlemen--nothing to pay--The Devil goes back to Hell to-day.
Words in this poem
- effete a.
- No longer capable of producing young, as an animal, or fruit, as the earth; hence, worn out with age; exhausted of energy; incapable of efficient action; no longer productive; barren; sterile. [L. effetus that has brought forth, exhausted; ex + fetus that has brought forth. See Fetus.]
- 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,]
- braying a.
- Making a harsh noise; blaring.
- brainless a.
- Without understanding; silly; thougthless; witless.
- beeves n.
- ; plural of Beef, the animal.
- bitterly adv.
- In a bitter manner.
- cheerfully adv.
- In a cheerful manner, gladly.
- pate n.
- A pie. See Patty. [F. pâté.]
- rung n.
- A floor timber in a ship. [OE. ronge, AS. hrung, a staff, rod, pole; akin to G. runge a short, thick piece of iron or wood, OD. ronghe a prop, support, Icel. röng a rib in a ship, Goth. H]
- clapper n.
- A rabbit burrow. [F. clapier.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Election Day 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, Election Day, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/election-day.html, id L28130.
Form and metre
Election Day is 34 lines in 4 verse paragraphs. It is in rhyming couplets, 94% of the lines: heroic couplets. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHII thronesA · bonesA · freeB · seeB · foolsC · toolsC · mountebanksD · cranksD · beevesE · thievesE · deadF · redF · kingsG · thingsG · wayH · payH · seenI · sereneI
- 2 AABB--CC debateA · pateA · aidB · bladeB · what · shot · beholdC · coldC
- 3 AABBCC tongueA · rungA · bellB · knellB · blowsC · rowsC
- 4 AA payA · dayA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Despots effete upon tottering thrones | 10 | /˘˘/··/˘˘· |
| Unsteadily poised upon dead men's bones, | 10 | ·········· |
| Walk up! walk up! the circus is free, | 9 | ·····/˘·· |
| And this wonderful spectacle you shall see: | 10 | ··/˘/˘˘··· |
| Millions of voters who mostly are fools-- | 10 | /˘·/˘·/˘·· |
| Demagogues' dupes and candidates' tools, | 9 | /˘···/˘˘· |
| Armies of uniformed mountebanks, | 10 | /˘·/˘·˘··· |
| And braying disciples of brainless cranks. | 10 | ·/˘˘/˘·/˘· |
| Many a week they've bellowed like beeves, | 10 | /˘···/˘˘·· |
| Bitterly blackguarding, lying like thieves, | 10 | /˘˘···/˘·· |
| Libeling freely the quick and the dead | 10 | /˘˘/˘····· |
| And painting the New Jerusalem red. | 10 | ·/˘··˘/˘˘· |
| Tyrants monarchical--emperors, kings, | 10 | /˘····/˘˘· |
| Princes and nobles and all such things-- | 9 | /˘·/˘···· |
| Noblemen, gentlemen, step this way: | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| There's nothing, the Devil excepted, to pay, | 10 | ·/˘·/˘/˘·· |
| And the freaks and curios here to be seen | 10 | ····/˘···· |
| Are very uncommonly grand and serene. | 10 | ·/˘·/˘··˘/ |
| No more with vivacity they debate, | 10 | ···˘/˘˘·˘/ |
| Nor cheerfully crack the illogical pate; | 10 | ·/˘··˘/˘˘· |
| No longer, the dull understanding to aid, | 11 | ·/˘···˘/˘·· |
| The stomach accepts the instructive blade, | 10 | ·/˘˘/·˘/˘· |
| Nor the stubborn heart learns what is what | 9 | ··/˘····· |
| From a revelation of rabbit-shot; | 10 | ···˘/˘·/˘· |
| And vilification's flames--behold! | 9 | ··˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| Burn with a bickering faint and cold. | 9 | ···/˘˘··· |
| Magnificent spectacle!--every tongue | 10 | ˘/˘˘/˘˘/˘· |
| Suddenly civil that yesterday rung | 10 | /˘˘/˘·/˘·· |
| (Like a clapper beating a brazen bell) | 10 | ··/˘/˘·/˘· |
| Each fair reputation's eternal knell; | 10 | ···˘/˘˘/˘· |
| Hands no longer delivering blows, | 9 | ··/˘˘/˘˘· |
| And noses, for counting, arrayed in rows. | 10 | ·/˘·/˘˘/·· |
| Walk up, gentlemen--nothing to pay-- | 9 | ··/˘˘/˘·· |
| The Devil goes back to Hell to-day. | 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.