The Opposing Sex
The Widows of AshurAre loud in their wailing:"No longer the 'masher'Sees Widows of Ashur!"So each is a lasherOf Man's smallest failing.The Widows of AshurAre loud in their wailing.
The Cave of Adullam,That home of reviling--No wooing can gull 'emIn Cave of Adullam.No angel can lull 'emTo cease their defilingThe Cave of Adullam,That home of reviling.
At men they are cursing--The Widows of Ashur;Themselves, too, for nursingThe men they are cursing.The praise they're rehearsingOf every slasherAt men. They are cursingThe Widows of Ashur.
Words in this poem
- lasher n.
- One who whips or lashes.
- reviling n.
- Reproach; abuse; vilification.
- lull v. t.
- To cause to rest by soothing influences; to compose; to calm; to soothe; to quiet. [Akin to OD. lullen to sing to sleep, G. lullen, Dan. lulle, Sw. lulla; all of imitative origin. Cf. Loll, Lollard.]
- slasher n.
- A machine for applying size to warp yarns.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Opposing Sex 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 Opposing Sex, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/the-opposing-sex.html, id L28141.
Form and metre
The Opposing Sex is 24 lines in 3 stanzas of 8 lines each. The rhyme scheme is ABAAABAB, complete in 2 of its 3 stanzas. The metre is iambic trimeter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 81%).
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 ABAAABAB ashurA · wailingB · masherA · ashurA · lasherA · failingB · ashurA · wailingB
- 2 ABCACBAB adullamA · revilingB · emC · adullamA · emC · defilingB · adullamA · revilingB
- 3 ABAAABAB cursingA · ashurB · nursingA · cursingA · rehearsingA · slasherB · cursingA · ashurB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| The Widows of Ashur | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Are loud in their wailing: | 6 | ····/˘ |
| "No longer the 'masher' | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Sees Widows of Ashur!" | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| So each is a lasher | 6 | ····/˘ |
| Of Man's smallest failing. | 6 | ··/˘/˘ |
| The Widows of Ashur | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Are loud in their wailing. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| The Cave of Adullam, | 6 | ······ |
| That home of reviling-- | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| No wooing can gull 'em | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| In Cave of Adullam. | 6 | ······ |
| No angel can lull 'em | 6 | ·/˘··· |
| To cease their defiling | 6 | ······ |
| The Cave of Adullam, | 6 | ······ |
| That home of reviling. | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| At men they are cursing-- | 6 | ····/˘ |
| The Widows of Ashur; | 6 | ·/˘·/˘ |
| Themselves, too, for nursing | 6 | ˘/··/˘ |
| The men they are cursing. | 6 | ····/˘ |
| The praise they're rehearsing | 6 | ···˘/˘ |
| Of every slasher | 6 | ·/˘˘/˘ |
| At men. They are cursing | 6 | ····/˘ |
| The Widows of Ashur. | 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.