Two Shows
The showman (blessing in a thousand shapes!)Parades a "School of Educated Apes!"Small education's needed, I opine,Or native wit, to make a monkey shine;The brute exhibited has naught to doBut ape the larger apes who come to view--The hoodlum with his horrible grimace,Long upper lip and furtive, shuffling pace,Significant reminders of the timeWhen hunters, not policemen, made him climb;The lady loafer with her draggling "trail,"That free translation of an ancient tail;The sand-lot quadrumane in hairy suit,Whose heels are thumbs perverted by the boot;The painted actress throwing down the gageTo elder artists of the sylvan stage,Proving that in the time of Noah's floodTwo ape-skins held her whole profession's blood;The critic waiting, like a hungry pup,To write the school--perhaps to eat it--up,As chance or luck occasion may revealTo earn a dollar or maraud a meal.To view the school of apes these creatures go,Unconscious that themselves are half the show.These, if the simian his course but trimTo copy them as they have copied him,Will call him "educated." Of a verityThere's much to learn by study of posterity.
Words in this poem
- showman n.
- One who exhibits a show; a proprietor of a show.
- opine v. t.
- To have an opinion; to judge; to think; to suppose. South. [L. opinari, p.p. opinatus; akin to opinus (in comp.) thinking, and perh. to E. apt: cf. F. opiner.]
- hoodlum n.
- A young rowdy; a rough, lawless fellow.
- furtive a.
- Stolen; obtained or characterized by stealth; sly; secret; stealthy; as, a furtive look. Prior. [L. furtivus, fr. furtum theft, fr. fur thief, akin to ferre to bear: cf. F. furtif. See Fertile.]
- loafer n.
- One who loafs; a lazy lounger. Lowell. [G. läufer a runner, Prov. G. laufer, lofer, fr. laufen to run. See Leap.]
- quadrumane n.
- One of the Quadrumana. [L. quattuor four + manus a hand: cf. F. quadrumane.]
- actress n.
- A female actor or doer. Cockeram. [Cf. F. actrice.]
- maraud v. i.
- To rove in quest of plunder; to make an excursion for booty; to plunder. [F. marauder, fr. maraud vagabond, OF. marault; of uncertain origin, perh. for malault, fr. (assumed) LL. malaldus; fr. L. malus bad, ill + a suffix of German or]
- simian a.
- Of or pertaining to the family Simiadæ, which, in its widest sense, includes all the Old World apes and monkeys; also, apelike. [L. simia an ape.]
- verity n.
- The quality or state of being true, or real; consonance of a statement, proposition, or other thing, with fact; truth; reality. [F. vérité, L. veritas, fr. verus true. See Very.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Two Shows 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, Two Shows, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/two-shows.html, id L28107.
Form and metre
Two Shows is 28 lines in a single stanza. It is in rhyming couplets: heroic couplets. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%).
See other poems in heroic couplets, other poems in iambic pentameter.
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 AABBCCDDEEFFGGHHIIJJKKLLMMNN shapesA · apesA · opineB · shineB · doC · viewC · grimaceD · paceD · timeE · climbE · trailF · tailF · suitG · bootG · gageH · stageH · floodI · bloodI · pupJ · upJ · revealK · mealK · goL · showL · trimM · himM · verityN · posterityN
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 pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| The showman (blessing in a thousand shapes!) | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Parades a "School of Educated Apes!" | 10 | ˘/···/˘·˘· |
| Small education's needed, I opine, | 10 | ··˘/˘/˘·˘/ |
| Or native wit, to make a monkey shine; | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| The brute exhibited has naught to do | 10 | ··˘/˘˘···· |
| But ape the larger apes who come to view-- | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| The hoodlum with his horrible grimace, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘˘/˘ |
| Long upper lip and furtive, shuffling pace, | 10 | ·/˘··/˘/˘· |
| Significant reminders of the time | 10 | ˘/˘˘˘/˘··· |
| When hunters, not policemen, made him climb; | 10 | ·/˘·˘/˘··· |
| The lady loafer with her draggling "trail," | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| That free translation of an ancient tail; | 10 | ··˘/˘··/˘· |
| The sand-lot quadrumane in hairy suit, | 10 | ···/˘˘·/˘· |
| Whose heels are thumbs perverted by the boot; | 10 | ····˘/˘··· |
| The painted actress throwing down the gage | 10 | ·/˘/˘/˘··· |
| To elder artists of the sylvan stage, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| Proving that in the time of Noah's flood | 10 | /˘·····/˘· |
| Two ape-skins held her whole profession's blood; | 10 | ······˘/˘· |
| The critic waiting, like a hungry pup, | 10 | ·/˘/˘··/˘· |
| To write the school--perhaps to eat it--up, | 10 | ····˘/···· |
| As chance or luck occasion may reveal | 10 | ····˘/˘·˘/ |
| To earn a dollar or maraud a meal. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/·· |
| To view the school of apes these creatures go, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Unconscious that themselves are half the show. | 10 | ·/˘·˘/···· |
| These, if the simian his course but trim | 10 | ···/˘˘···· |
| To copy them as they have copied him, | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Will call him "educated." Of a verity | 11 | ···/˘·˘··/˘ |
| There's much to learn by study of posterity. | 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.