From Virginia to Paris
The polecat, sovereign of its native wood,Dashes damnation upon bad and good;The health of all the upas trees impairsBy exhalations deadlier than theirs;Poisons the rattlesnake and warts the toad--The creeks go rotten and the rocks corrode!She shakes o'er breathless hill and shrinking daleThe horrid aspergillus of her tail!From every saturated hair, till dry,The spargent fragrances divergent fly,Deafen the earth and scream along the sky!
Removed to alien scenes, amid the strifeOf urban odors to ungladden life--Where gas and sewers and dead dogs conspireThe flesh to torture and the soul to fire--Where all the "well defined and several stinks"Known to mankind hold revel and high jinks--Humbled in spirit, smitten with a senseOf lost distinction, leveled eminence,She suddenly resigns her baleful trust,Nor ever lays again our mortal dust.Her powers atrophied, her vigor sunk,She lives deodorized, a sweeter skunk.
Words in this poem
- damnation n.
- The state of being damned; condemnation; openly expressed disapprobation. [F. damnation, L. damnatio, fr. damnare. See Damn.]
- creeks n.
- A tribe or confederacy of North American Indians, including the Muskogees, Seminoles, Uchees, and other subordinate tribes. They formerly inhabited Georgia, Florida, and Alabama.
- breathless a.
- Spent with labor or violent action; out of breath.
- horrid a.
- Rough; rugged; bristling. [L. horridus. See Horror, and cf. Ordure.]
- deafen v. t.
- To make deaf; to deprive of the power of hearing; to render incapable of perceiving sounds distinctly. [From Deaf.]
- amid prep.
- In the midst or middle of; surrounded or encompassed by; among. [OE. amidde, amiddes, on midden, AS. on middan, in the middle, fr. midde the middle. The s is an adverbial ending, originally marking the genitive; the t is a la]
- strife n.
- The act of striving; earnest endeavor. [OF. estrif. See Strive.]
- urban a.
- Of or belonging to a city or town; as, an urban population. [L. urbanus belonging to the urbs, urbis, a city: cf. F. urbain. Cf. Urbane.]
- atrophied p. a.
- Affected with atrophy, as a tissue or organ; arrested in development at a very early stage; rudimentary.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
From Virginia to Paris 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, From Virginia to Paris, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/from-virginia-to-paris.html, id L28033.
Form and metre
From Virginia to Paris is 23 lines in 2 stanzas. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 89%).
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 AABBCCDDEEE woodA · goodA · impairsB · theirsB · toadC · corrodeC · daleD · tailD · dryE · flyE · skyE
- 2 AABBCCDDEEFF strifeA · lifeA · conspireB · fireB · stinksC · jinksC · senseD · eminenceD · trustE · dustE · sunkF · skunkF
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The polecat, sovereign of its native wood, | 10 | ·/·/˘··/˘· |
| Dashes damnation upon bad and good; | 10 | /˘˘/˘····· |
| The health of all the upas trees impairs | 10 | ·····/˘·˘/ |
| By exhalations deadlier than theirs; | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘˘·· |
| Poisons the rattlesnake and warts the toad-- | 10 | /˘·/˘····· |
| The creeks go rotten and the rocks corrode! | 10 | ···/˘···˘/ |
| She shakes o'er breathless hill and shrinking dale | 10 | ···/˘··/˘· |
| The horrid aspergillus of her tail! | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| From every saturated hair, till dry, | 10 | ·/˘/˘·˘··· |
| The spargent fragrances divergent fly, | 10 | ···/˘˘˘/˘· |
| Deafen the earth and scream along the sky! | 10 | /˘····˘/·· |
| Removed to alien scenes, amid the strife | 10 | ˘/·/˘·˘/·· |
| Of urban odors to ungladden life-- | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Where gas and sewers and dead dogs conspire | 11 | ···/˘···˘/˘ |
| The flesh to torture and the soul to fire-- | 11 | ···/˘····/˘ |
| Where all the "well defined and several stinks" | 10 | ····˘/·/˘· |
| Known to mankind hold revel and high jinks-- | 10 | ··//·/˘··· |
| Humbled in spirit, smitten with a sense | 10 | /˘·/˘/˘··· |
| Of lost distinction, leveled eminence, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘/˘˘ |
| She suddenly resigns her baleful trust, | 10 | ·/˘˘˘/·/˘· |
| Nor ever lays again our mortal dust. | 10 | ·/·˘//˘/˘· |
| Her powers atrophied, her vigor sunk, | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘·/˘· |
| She lives deodorized, a sweeter skunk. | 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.