France
Unhappy State! with horrors still to strive:Thy Hugo dead, thy Boulanger alive;A Prince who'd govern where he dares not dwell,And who for power would his birthright sell--Who, anxious o'er his enemies to reign,Grabs at the scepter and conceals the chain;While pugnant factions mutually striveBy cutting throats to keep the land alive.Perverse in passion, as in pride perverse--To all a mistress, to thyself a curse;Sweetheart of Europe! every sun's embraceMatures the charm and poison of thy grace.Yet time to thee nor peace nor wisdom brings:In blood of citizens and blood of kingsThe stones of thy stability are set,And the fair fabric trembles at a threat.
Words in this poem
- dwell v. i.
- To delay; to linger. [OE. dwellen, dwelien, to err, linger, AS. dwellan to deceive, hinder, delay, dwelian to err; akin to Icel. dvelja to delay, tarry, Sw. dväljas to dwell, Dan. dv]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
France 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, France, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/france.html, id L28174.
Form and metre
France is 16 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: 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 AABBCCAADDEEFFGG striveA · aliveA · dwellB · sellB · reignC · chainC · striveA · aliveA · perverseD · curseD · embraceE · graceE · bringsF · kingsF · setG · threatG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Unhappy State! with horrors still to strive: | 10 | ˘/˘··/˘··· |
| Thy Hugo dead, thy Boulanger alive; | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘˘/ |
| A Prince who'd govern where he dares not dwell, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And who for power would his birthright sell-- | 10 | ···/˘··/·· |
| Who, anxious o'er his enemies to reign, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘·· |
| Grabs at the scepter and conceals the chain; | 10 | ······˘/·· |
| While pugnant factions mutually strive | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘˘· |
| By cutting throats to keep the land alive. | 10 | ·/˘·····˘/ |
| Perverse in passion, as in pride perverse-- | 10 | ˘/·/˘···˘/ |
| To all a mistress, to thyself a curse; | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| Sweetheart of Europe! every sun's embrace | 10 | /··/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Matures the charm and poison of thy grace. | 10 | ˘/···/˘··· |
| Yet time to thee nor peace nor wisdom brings: | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| In blood of citizens and blood of kings | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| The stones of thy stability are set, | 10 | ····˘/˘˘·· |
| And the fair fabric trembles at a threat. | 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.