In the Binnacle
The Church's compass, if you please,Has two or three (or more) degreesOf variation;And many a soul has gone to griefOn this or that or t'other reefThrough faith unreckoning or briefMiscalculation.Misguidance is of perils chiefTo navigation.
The obsequious thing makes, too, you'll mark,Obeisance through a little arcOf declination;For Satan, fearing witches, drewFrom Death's pale horse, one day, a shoe,And nailed it to his door to undoTheir machination.Since then the needle dips to wooHis habitation.
Words in this poem
- misguidance n.
- Wrong guidance.
- obsequious a.
- Promptly obedient, or submissive, to the will of another; compliant; yielding to the desires of another; devoted. [L.obsequiosus, fr. obsequium compliance, fr. obsequi, fr. obsequi: cf. F. obséquieux, See Obsequent, and cf. Obsequy.]
- machination n.
- The act of machinating. [L. machinatio: cf. F. machination.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
In the Binnacle 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 the Binnacle, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/in-the-binnacle.html, id L28196.
Form and metre
In the Binnacle is 18 lines in 2 stanzas of 9 lines each. Every stanza rhymes AABCCCBCB. 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 AABCCCBCB pleaseA · degreesA · variationB · griefC · reefC · briefC · miscalculationB · chiefC · navigationB
- 2 AABCCCBCB markA · arcA · declinationB · drewC · shoeC · undoC · machinationB · wooC · habitationB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The Church's compass, if you please, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| Has two or three (or more) degrees | 8 | ······˘/ |
| Of variation; | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| And many a soul has gone to grief | 8 | ·/······ |
| On this or that or t'other reef | 9 | ·····˘/˘· |
| Through faith unreckoning or brief | 8 | ········ |
| Miscalculation. | 5 | ˘/˘/˘ |
| Misguidance is of perils chief | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| To navigation. | 5 | ·/˘/˘ |
| The obsequious thing makes, too, you'll mark, | 9 | ·˘/˘····· |
| Obeisance through a little arc | 8 | ˘/˘··/˘· |
| Of declination; | 5 | ····· |
| For Satan, fearing witches, drew | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| From Death's pale horse, one day, a shoe, | 8 | ········ |
| And nailed it to his door to undo | 9 | ·······˘/ |
| Their machination. | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
| Since then the needle dips to woo | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| His habitation. | 5 | ··˘/˘ |
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.