J.F.B.
How well this man unfolded to our viewThe world's beliefs of Death and Heaven and Hell--This man whose own convictions none could tell,Nor if his maze of reason had a clew.Dogmas he wrote for daily bread, but knewThe fair philosophies of doubt so wellThat while we listened to his words there fellSome that were strangely comforting, though true.Marking how wise we grew upon his doubt,We said: "If so, by groping in the night,He can proclaim some certain paths of trust,How great our profit if he saw aboutHis feet the highways leading to the light."Now he sees all. Ah, Christ! his mouth is dust!
Words in this poem
- maze n.
- A wild fancy; a confused notion. [OE. mase; cf. OE. masen to confuse, puzzle, Norweg. masast to fall into a slumber, masa to be continually busy, prate, chatter, Icel. masa to chatter, dial. Sw.]
- clew v. t.
- To direct; to guide, as by a thread. [Cf. D. kluwenen. See Clew, n.]
- wrote v. i.
- To root with the snout. See 1st Root. [OE. wroten. See 1st Root.]
- strangely adv.
- As something foreign, or not one's own; in a manner adapted to something foreign and strange.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
J.F.B. 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, J.F.B., in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/j-f-b.html, id L28016.
Form and metre
J.F.B. is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABBAABBACDECDE, the pattern of the Italian sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other Italian sonnets, 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 ABBAABBACDECDE viewA · hellB · tellB · clewA · knewA · wellB · fellB · trueA · doubtC · nightD · trustE · aboutC · lightD · dustE
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 |
|---|---|---|
| How well this man unfolded to our view | 10 | ····˘/˘·/· |
| The world's beliefs of Death and Heaven and Hell-- | 10 | ··˘/···/·· |
| This man whose own convictions none could tell, | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| Nor if his maze of reason had a clew. | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| Dogmas he wrote for daily bread, but knew | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| The fair philosophies of doubt so well | 10 | ··˘/˘˘···· |
| That while we listened to his words there fell | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Some that were strangely comforting, though true. | 10 | ···/˘/˘˘·· |
| Marking how wise we grew upon his doubt, | 10 | /˘········ |
| We said: "If so, by groping in the night, | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| He can proclaim some certain paths of trust, | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| How great our profit if he saw about | 10 | ··//˘····· |
| His feet the highways leading to the light." | 10 | ···/·/˘··· |
| Now he sees all. Ah, Christ! his mouth is dust! | 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.