Unexpounded
On Evidence, on Deeds, on Bills,On Copyhold, on Loans, on Wills,Lawyers great books indite;The creaking of their busy quillsI've never heard on Right.
Words in this poem
- indite v. t.
- To compose; to write; to be author of; to dictate; to prompt. [OE. enditen to indite, indict, OF. enditer to indicate, show, dictate, write, inform, and endicter to accuse; both fr. LL. indictare to show, to accuse, fr. L. ]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Unexpounded 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, Unexpounded, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/unexpounded.html, id L28173.
Form and metre
Unexpounded is 5 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes AABAB. This poem did not settle on a metre of its own; the book it comes from is in iambic pentameter.
See 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 AABAB billsA · willsA · inditeB · quillsA · rightB
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 |
|---|---|---|
| On Evidence, on Deeds, on Bills, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| On Copyhold, on Loans, on Wills, | 8 | ·/˘˘···· |
| Lawyers great books indite; | 6 | /˘··˘/ |
| The creaking of their busy quills | 8 | ·/˘··/˘· |
| I've never heard on Right. | 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.