The Division Superintendent
Baffled he stands upon the track--The automatic switches clack.
Where'er he turns his solemn eyesThe interlocking signals rise.
The trains, before his visage pale,Glide smoothly by, nor leave the rail.
No splinter-spitted victim heHears uttering the note high C.
In sorrow deep he hangs his head,A-weary--would that he were dead.
Now suddenly his spirits rise--A great thought kindles in his eyes.
Hope, like a headlight's vivid glare,Splendors the path of his despair.
His genius shines, the clouds roll back--"I'll place obstructions on the track!"
Words in this poem
- clack v. i.
- To make a sudden, sharp noise, or a succesion of such noises, as by striking an object, or by collision of parts; to rattle; to click. [Prob. of imitative origin; cf. F.claquer to clap, crack, D. klakken, MHG. klac crack, Ir. clagaim I make a noise, ring. Cf. Clack, n., Clatter, Click.]
- visage n.
- The face, countenance, or look of a person or an animal; -- chiefly applied to the human face. [F. visage, from L. visus a seeing, a look, fr. videre, visum, to see. See Vision.]
- glare v. i.
- To shine with a bright, dazzling light. [OE. glaren, gloren; cf. AS. glær amber, LG. glaren to glow or burn like coals, D. gloren to glimmer; prob. akin to E. glass.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Division Superintendent 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, The Division Superintendent, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/the-division-superintendent.html, id L28126.
Form and metre
The Division Superintendent is 16 lines in 8 stanzas of 2 lines each. It is in rhyming couplets: octosyllabic couplets. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 90%).
See other poems in octosyllabic couplets, 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 AA trackA · clackA
- 2 AA eyesA · riseA
- 3 AA paleA · railA
- 4 AA heA · cA
- 5 AA headA · deadA
- 6 AA riseA · eyesA
- 7 AA glareA · despairA
- 8 AA backA · trackA
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Baffled he stands upon the track-- | 8 | /˘······ |
| The automatic switches clack. | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| Where'er he turns his solemn eyes | 9 | ˘˘/···/˘· |
| The interlocking signals rise. | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| The trains, before his visage pale, | 8 | ·····/˘· |
| Glide smoothly by, nor leave the rail. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| No splinter-spitted victim he | 8 | ·/˘/˘/˘· |
| Hears uttering the note high C. | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| In sorrow deep he hangs his head, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| A-weary--would that he were dead. | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Now suddenly his spirits rise-- | 8 | ·/˘˘·/˘· |
| A great thought kindles in his eyes. | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Hope, like a headlight's vivid glare, | 8 | ···/·/˘· |
| Splendors the path of his despair. | 8 | /˘····˘/ |
| His genius shines, the clouds roll back-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| "I'll place obstructions on the track!" | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
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.