Montefiore
I saw--'twas in a dream, the other night--A man whose hair with age was thin and white:One hundred years had bettered by his birth,And still his step was firm, his eye was bright.
Before him and about him pressed a crowd.Each head in reverence was bared and bowed,And Jews and Gentiles in a hundred tonguesExtolled his deeds and spoke his fame aloud.
I joined the throng and, pushing forward, cried,"Montefiore!" with the rest, and viedIn efforts to caress the hand that ne'erTo want and worth had charity denied.
So closely round him swarmed our shouting clanHe scarce could breathe, and taking from a panA gleaming coin he tossed it o'er our heads,And in a moment was a lonely man!
Words in this poem
- spoke n.
- The radius or ray of a wheel; one of the small bars which are inserted in the hub, or nave, and which serve to support the rim or felly. [OE. spoke, spake, AS, spaca; akin to D. speek, LG. speke, OHG. speihha, G. speiche. sq. root170. Cf. Spike a nail.]
- aloud adv.
- With a loud voice, or great noise; loudly; audibly. [Pref. a- + loud.]
- caress n.
- An act of endearment; any act or expression of affection; an embracing, or touching, with tenderness. [F. caresse, It. carezza, LL. caritia dearness, fr. L. carus dear. See Charity.]
- scarce a.
- Not plentiful or abundant; in small quantity in proportion to the demand; not easily to be procured; rare; uncommon. [OE. scars, OF. escars, eschars, LL. scarpsus, for L. excerptus, p. p. of excerpere to pick out, and hence to contract, to shorten; ex (see Ex-) + carpere. See C]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Montefiore 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, Montefiore, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/montefiore.html, id L28122.
Form and metre
Montefiore is 16 lines in 4 stanzas of 4 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets, 50% of the lines: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, 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 AA-A nightA · whiteA · birth · brightA
- 2 AA-A crowdA · bowedA · tongues · aloudA
- 3 AA-A criedA · viedA · ne'er · deniedA
- 4 AA-A clanA · panA · heads · manA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I saw--'twas in a dream, the other night-- | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| A man whose hair with age was thin and white: | 10 | ·········· |
| One hundred years had bettered by his birth, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘··· |
| And still his step was firm, his eye was bright. | 10 | ·········· |
| Before him and about him pressed a crowd. | 10 | ·········· |
| Each head in reverence was bared and bowed, | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| And Jews and Gentiles in a hundred tongues | 10 | ···/···/˘· |
| Extolled his deeds and spoke his fame aloud. | 10 | ˘/······˘/ |
| I joined the throng and, pushing forward, cried, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| "Montefiore!" with the rest, and vied | 10 | ·˘˘/˘····· |
| In efforts to caress the hand that ne'er | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| To want and worth had charity denied. | 10 | ·····/˘˘˘/ |
| So closely round him swarmed our shouting clan | 10 | ·/˘···//˘· |
| He scarce could breathe, and taking from a pan | 10 | ·····/˘··· |
| A gleaming coin he tossed it o'er our heads, | 10 | ·/˘·····/· |
| And in a moment was a lonely man! | 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.