In Contumaciam
Och! Father McGlynn,Ye appear to be inFer a bit of a bout wid the Pope;An' there's divil a doubtBut he's knockin' ye outWhile ye're hangin' onto the rope.
An' soon ye'll lave homeTo thravel to Rome,For its bound to Canossa ye are.Persistin' to shtayWhen ye're ordered away--Bedad! that is goin' too far!
Words in this poem
- onto prep.
- On the top of; upon; on. See On to, under On, prep. [On + to. Cf. Into.]
- lave v. t.
- To lade, dip, or pour out. [OE. laven. See Lavish.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In Contumaciam 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, In Contumaciam, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/in-contumaciam.html, id L28152.
Form and metre
In Contumaciam is 12 lines in 2 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABCCB. The metre is anapaestic dimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See other poems in anapaestic dimeter.
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 AABCCB mcglynnA · inA · popeB · doubtC · outC · ropeB
- 2 AABCCB homeA · romeA · areB · shtayC · awayC · farB
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 anapaestic dimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| Och! Father McGlynn, | 5 | ·/˘˘/ |
| Ye appear to be in | 6 | ·˘/··· |
| Fer a bit of a bout wid the Pope; | 9 | ········· |
| An' there's divil a doubt | 6 | ······ |
| But he's knockin' ye out | 6 | ······ |
| While ye're hangin' onto the rope. | 8 | ··/˘/˘·· |
| An' soon ye'll lave home | 5 | ····· |
| To thravel to Rome, | 5 | ····· |
| For its bound to Canossa ye are. | 9 | ········· |
| Persistin' to shtay | 5 | ····· |
| When ye're ordered away-- | 6 | ··/˘˘/ |
| Bedad! that is goin' too far! | 8 | ····/˘·· |
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.