The Pun
Hail, peerless Pun! thou last and best,Most rare and excellent bequestOf dying idiot to the witHe died of, rat-like, in a pit!
Thyself disguised, in many a wayThou let'st thy sudden splendor play,Adorning all where'er it turns,As the revealing bull's-eye burns,Of the dim thief, and plays its trickUpon the lock he means to pick.
Yet sometimes, too, thou dost appearAs boldly as a brigadierTricked out with marks and signs, all o'er,Of rank, brigade, division, corps,To show by every means he canAn officer is not a man;Or naked, with a lordly swagger,Proud as a cur without a wagger,Who says: "See simple worth prevail--All dog, sir--not a bit of tail!"
'T is then men give thee loudest welcome,As if thou wert a soul from Hell come.
O obvious Pun! thou hast the graceOf skeleton clock without a case--With all its boweling displayed,And all its organs on parade.
Dear Pun, you're common ground of bliss,Where Punch and I can meet and kiss;Than thee my wit can stoop no low'r--No higher his does ever soar.
Words in this poem
- idiot n.
- A man in private station, as distinguished from one holding a public office. [F. idiot, L. idiota an uneducated, ignorant, ill- informed person, Gr. Idiom.]
- boldly adv.
- In a bold manner. [AS. bealdlice.]
- brigade n.
- A body of troops, whether cavalry, artillery, infantry, or mixed, consisting of two or more regiments, under the command of a brigadier general. [F. brigade, fr. It. brigata troop, crew, brigade, originally, a contending troop, fr. briga trouble, quarrel. See Brigand.]
- corps n.
- The human body, whether living or dead. See Corpse, 1. [F., fr. L. corpus body. See Corpse.]
- swagger v. i.
- To walk with a swaying motion; hence, to walk and act in a pompous, consequential manner. [Freq. of swag.]
- obvious a.
- Opposing; fronting. [L. obvius; ob (see Ob-) + via way. See Voyage.]
- hast
- , 2d pers. sing. pres. of. Fave, contr. of havest.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Pun 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 Pun, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/the-pun.html, id L28088.
Form and metre
The Pun is 30 lines in 6 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 3 of its 6 stanzas. The metre is iambic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 88%).
See 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 AABB bestA · bequestA · witB · pitB
- 2 AABBCC wayA · playA · turnsB · burnsB · trickC · pickC
- 3 AABBCCDDEE appearA · brigadierA · o'erB · corpsB · canC · manC · swaggerD · waggerD · prevailE · tailE
- 4 AA welcomeA · comeA
- 5 AABB graceA · caseA · displayedB · paradeB
- 6 AABB blissA · kissA · low'rB · soarB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| Hail, peerless Pun! thou last and best, | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Most rare and excellent bequest | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| Of dying idiot to the wit | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| He died of, rat-like, in a pit! | 8 | ········ |
| Thyself disguised, in many a way | 8 | ˘/˘/·/·· |
| Thou let'st thy sudden splendor play, | 8 | ···/˘/˘· |
| Adorning all where'er it turns, | 9 | ˘/˘·˘˘/·· |
| As the revealing bull's-eye burns, | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| Of the dim thief, and plays its trick | 8 | ········ |
| Upon the lock he means to pick. | 8 | ········ |
| Yet sometimes, too, thou dost appear | 8 | ·/····˘/ |
| As boldly as a brigadier | 8 | ·/˘···˘/ |
| Tricked out with marks and signs, all o'er, | 8 | ········ |
| Of rank, brigade, division, corps, | 8 | ··˘/˘/˘· |
| To show by every means he can | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| An officer is not a man; | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Or naked, with a lordly swagger, | 9 | ·/˘··/˘/˘ |
| Proud as a cur without a wagger, | 9 | ········· |
| Who says: "See simple worth prevail-- | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| All dog, sir--not a bit of tail!" | 8 | ········ |
| 'T is then men give thee loudest welcome, | 10 | ······/˘/˘ |
| As if thou wert a soul from Hell come. | 9 | ········· |
| O obvious Pun! thou hast the grace | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| Of skeleton clock without a case-- | 8 | ·/˘····· |
| With all its boweling displayed, | 8 | ···/˘˘˘/ |
| And all its organs on parade. | 8 | ···/˘·˘/ |
| Dear Pun, you're common ground of bliss, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Where Punch and I can meet and kiss; | 8 | ········ |
| Than thee my wit can stoop no low'r-- | 8 | ········ |
| No higher his does ever soar. | 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.