The Woman and the Devil
When Man and Woman had been made,All but the disposition,The Devil to the workshop strayed,And somehow gained admission.
The Master rested from his work,For this was on a Sunday,The man was snoring like a Turk,Content to wait till Monday.
"Too bad!" the Woman cried; "Oh, why,Does slumber not benumb me?A disposition! Oh, I dieTo know if 'twill become me!"
The Adversary said: "No doubt'Twill be extremely fine, ma'am,Though sure 'tis long to be without--I beg to lend you mine, ma'am."
The Devil's disposition whenShe'd got, of course she wore it,For she'd no disposition then,Nor now has, to restore it.
Words in this poem
- somehow adv.
- In one way or another; in some way not yet known or designated; by some means; as, the thing must be done somehow; he lives somehow.
- turk n.
- A member of any of numerous Tartar tribes of Central Asia, etc.; esp., one of the dominant race in Turkey. [Per. Turk; probably of Tartar origin: cf. F. Turc.]
- benumb v. t.
- To make torpid; to deprive of sensation or sensibility; to stupefy; as, a hand or foot benumbed by cold. [OE. binomen, p. p. of binimen to take away, AS. beniman; pref. be + niman to take. See Numb, a., and cf. Benim.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
The Woman and the Devil 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 Woman and the Devil, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/the-woman-and-the-devil.html, id L28109.
Form and metre
The Woman and the Devil is 20 lines in 5 stanzas of 4 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABAB. The metre is common measure, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 94%).
See other poems in common measure.
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 madeA · dispositionB · strayedA · admissionB
- 2 ABAB workA · sundayB · turkA · mondayB
- 3 ABAB whyA · meB · dieA · meB
- 4 ABAB doubtA · ma'amB · withoutA · ma'amB
- 5 ABAB whenA · itB · thenA · itB
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 common measure. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| When Man and Woman had been made, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| All but the disposition, | 7 | ····˘/˘ |
| The Devil to the workshop strayed, | 8 | ·/˘··/·· |
| And somehow gained admission. | 8 | ·/··˘˘/˘ |
| The Master rested from his work, | 8 | ·/˘/˘··· |
| For this was on a Sunday, | 7 | ·····/· |
| The man was snoring like a Turk, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Content to wait till Monday. | 7 | ˘/···/˘ |
| "Too bad!" the Woman cried; "Oh, why, | 8 | ···/˘··· |
| Does slumber not benumb me? | 7 | ·/˘·˘/· |
| A disposition! Oh, I die | 8 | ··˘/˘··· |
| To know if 'twill become me!" | 7 | ····˘/· |
| The Adversary said: "No doubt | 8 | ·/˘·˘··· |
| 'Twill be extremely fine, ma'am, | 7 | ··˘/˘·· |
| Though sure 'tis long to be without-- | 8 | ········ |
| I beg to lend you mine, ma'am." | 7 | ······· |
| The Devil's disposition when | 8 | ·/˘·˘/˘· |
| She'd got, of course she wore it, | 7 | ······· |
| For she'd no disposition then, | 8 | ····˘/˘· |
| Nor now has, to restore it. | 7 | ····˘/· |
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.