Mad
O ye who push and fightTo hear a wanton sing--Who utter the delightThat has the bogus ring,--
O men mature in years,In understanding young,The membranes of whose earsShe tickles with her tongue,--
O wives and daughters sweet,Who call it love of artTo kiss a woman's feetThat crush a woman's heart,--
O prudent dams and sires,Your docile young who bringTo see how man admiresA sinner if she sing,--
O husbands who impartTo each assenting spouseThe lesson that shall startThe buds upon your brows,--
All whose applauding handsAssist to rear the fameThat throws o'er all the landsThe shadow of its shame,--
Go drag her car!--the mudThrough which its axle rollsIs partly human bloodAnd partly human souls.
Mad, mad!--your senses whirlLike devils dancing free,Because a strolling girlCan hold the note high C.
For this the avenging rodOf Heaven ye dare defy,And tear the law that GodThundered from Sinai!
Words in this poem
- bogus a.
- Spurious; fictitious; sham; -- a cant term originally applied to counterfeit coin, and hence denoting anything counterfeit. [Etymol. uncertain.]
- docile a.
- Teachable; easy to teach; docible. [L. docilis,fr. docere to teach; cf. Gr. discere to learn, Gr. docile. Cf. Doctor, Didactic, Disciple.]
- sinner n.
- One who has sinned; especially, one who has sinned without repenting; hence, a persistent and incorrigible transgressor; one condemned by the law of God.
- assenting a.
- Giving or implying assent.
- spouse v. t.
- To wed; to espouse. [See Espouse, and Spouse, n.]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
- defy v. t.
- To renounce or dissolve all bonds of affiance, faith, or obligation with; to reject, refuse, or renounce. [F. défier, OF. deffier, desfier, LL. disfidare to disown faith or fidelity, to dissolve the bond of allegiance, as between the vassal and his lord; hence, to ch]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Mad 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, Mad, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/mad.html, id L27996.
Form and metre
Mad is 36 lines in 9 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).
See other poems in iambic trimeter.
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 ABAB fightA · singB · delightA · ringB
- 2 ABAB yearsA · youngB · earsA · tongueB
- 3 ABAB sweetA · artB · feetA · heartB
- 4 ABAB siresA · bringB · admiresA · singB
- 5 ABAB impartA · spouseB · startA · browsB
- 6 ABAB handsA · fameB · landsA · shameB
- 7 ABAB mudA · rollsB · bloodA · soulsB
- 8 ABAB whirlA · freeB · girlA · cB
- 9 ABAB rodA · defyB · godA · sinaiB
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 trimeter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| O ye who push and fight | 6 | ······ |
| To hear a wanton sing-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Who utter the delight | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| That has the bogus ring,-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| O men mature in years, | 6 | ··˘/·· |
| In understanding young, | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| The membranes of whose ears | 6 | ·/···· |
| She tickles with her tongue,-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| O wives and daughters sweet, | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Who call it love of art | 6 | ······ |
| To kiss a woman's feet | 6 | ···/˘· |
| That crush a woman's heart,-- | 6 | ···/˘· |
| O prudent dams and sires, | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| Your docile young who bring | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| To see how man admires | 6 | ····˘/ |
| A sinner if she sing,-- | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| O husbands who impart | 6 | ·/˘·˘/ |
| To each assenting spouse | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| The lesson that shall start | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| The buds upon your brows,-- | 6 | ······ |
| All whose applauding hands | 6 | ··˘/˘· |
| Assist to rear the fame | 6 | ˘/···· |
| That throws o'er all the lands | 6 | ······ |
| The shadow of its shame,-- | 6 | ·/···· |
| Go drag her car!--the mud | 6 | ······ |
| Through which its axle rolls | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Is partly human blood | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| And partly human souls. | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Mad, mad!--your senses whirl | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Like devils dancing free, | 6 | ·/˘/˘· |
| Because a strolling girl | 6 | ···/˘· |
| Can hold the note high C. | 6 | ······ |
| For this the avenging rod | 7 | ···˘/˘· |
| Of Heaven ye dare defy, | 6 | ·/··˘/ |
| And tear the law that God | 6 | ······ |
| Thundered from Sinai! | 6 | /˘˘·/· |
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.