Peace
When lion and lamb have together lain downSpectators cry out, all in chorus;"The lamb doesn't shrink nor the lion frown--A miracle's working before us!"
But 't is patent why Hot-head his wrath holds in,And Faint-heart her terror and loathing;For the one's but an ass in a lion's skin,The other a wolf in sheep's clothing.
About this text
Peace 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, Peace, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/peace.html, id L28097.
Form and metre
Peace is 8 lines in 2 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 74%).
See 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 ABAB downA · chorusB · frownA · usB
- 2 ABAB inA · loathingB · skinA · clothingB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| When lion and lamb have together lain down | 10 | ·/···˘/˘·· |
| Spectators cry out, all in chorus; | 9 | /˘˘····/˘ |
| "The lamb doesn't shrink nor the lion frown-- | 10 | ··/˘···/˘· |
| A miracle's working before us!" | 9 | ·/˘˘/˘··· |
| But 't is patent why Hot-head his wrath holds in, | 12 | ···/˘······· |
| And Faint-heart her terror and loathing; | 9 | ····/˘·/˘ |
| For the one's but an ass in a lion's skin, | 11 | ········/˘· |
| The other a wolf in sheep's clothing. | 9 | ·/˘····/˘ |
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.