Laurel · Ambrose Bierce · Shapes of Clay

The Wise and Good

Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914) · 1903

anapaestic tetrameter · AABB · 24 lines · from Shapes of Clay

"O father, I saw at the church as I passedThe populace gathered in numbers so vastThat they couldn't get in; and their voices were low,And they looked as if suffering terrible woe."

"'Twas the funeral, child, of a gentleman deadFor whom the great heart of humanity bled."

"What made it bleed, father, for every daySomebody passes forever away?Do the newspaper men print a column or moreOf every person whose troubles are o'er?"

"O, no; they could never do that--and indeed,Though printers might print it, no reader would read.To the sepulcher all, soon or late, must be borne,But 'tis only the Wise and the Good that all mourn."

"That's right, father dear, but how can our eyesDistinguish in dead men the Good and the Wise?"

"That's easy enough to the stupidest mind:They're poor, and in dying leave nothing behind."

"Seest thou in mine eye, father, anything green?And takest thy son for a gaping marine?Go tell thy fine tale of the Wise and the GoodWho are poor and lamented to babes in the wood."

And that horrible youth as I hastened awayWas building a wink that affronted the day.

Words in this poem

somebody n.: A person unknown or uncertain; a person indeterminate; some person.
lamented a.: Mourned for; bewailed.

Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.

About this text

The Wise and Good 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 Wise and Good, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/the-wise-and-good.html, id L28135.

Form and metre

The Wise and Good is 24 lines in 8 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 4 of its 8 stanzas. The metre is anapaestic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 95%).

See other poems in anapaestic 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 passed^A · vast^A · low^B · woe^B
2 AA dead^A · bled^A
3 AABB day^A · away^A · more^B · o'er^B
4 AABB indeed^A · read^A · borne^B · mourn^B
5 AA eyes^A · wise^A
6 AA mind^A · behind^A
7 AABB green^A · marine^A · good^B · wood^B
8 AA away^A · day^A

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 anapaestic tetrameter. How this is done.

Line	Syl.	Stress
"O father, I saw at the church as I passed	11	·/˘········
The populace gathered in numbers so vast	10	·/˘/˘·/˘··
That they couldn't get in; and their voices were low,	12	··/˘····/˘··
And they looked as if suffering terrible woe."	10	·····/˘/˘·
"'Twas the funeral, child, of a gentleman dead	10	··/˘···/˘·
For whom the great heart of humanity bled."	10	······˘/˘·
"What made it bleed, father, for every day	10	····/˘·/˘·
Somebody passes forever away?	10	/·˘/˘˘/˘˘/
Do the newspaper men print a column or more	12	··/·˘···/˘··
Of every person whose troubles are o'er?"	10	·/˘/˘·/˘··
"O, no; they could never do that--and indeed,	10	····/···˘/
Though printers might print it, no reader would read.	11	·/˘····/˘··
To the sepulcher all, soon or late, must be borne,	12	············
But 'tis only the Wise and the Good that all mourn."	12	··/˘········
"That's right, father dear, but how can our eyes	10	··/˘····/·
Distinguish in dead men the Good and the Wise?"	11	˘/˘········
"That's easy enough to the stupidest mind:	10	·/˘˘/··/˘·
They're poor, and in dying leave nothing behind."	11	····/˘·/˘··
"Seest thou in mine eye, father, anything green?	11	·····/˘/˘··
And takest thy son for a gaping marine?	11	·······/˘˘/
Go tell thy fine tale of the Wise and the Good	11	···········
Who are poor and lamented to babes in the wood."	12	····˘/˘·····
And that horrible youth as I hastened away	11	··/˘···/˘˘/
Was building a wink that affronted the day.	11	·/˘···˘/˘··

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.

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Shapes of Clay