Visions of Sin
From the regions of the Night,Coming with recovered sight--From the spell of darkness free,What will Danenhower see?
He will see when he arrives,Doctors taking human lives.He will see a learned judgeWhose decision will not budgeTill both litigants are fleecedAnd his palm is duly greased.Lawyers he will see who fightDay by day and night by night;Never both upon a side,Though their fees they still divide.Preachers he will see who teachThat it is divine to preach--That they fan a sacred fireAnd are worthy of their hire.He will see a trusted wife
(Pride of some good husband's life)Enter at a certain doorAnd--but he will see no more.He will see Good Templars reel--See a prosecutor steal,And a father beat his child.He'll perhaps see Oscar Wilde.
From the regions of the NightComing with recovered sight--From the bliss of blindness free,That's what Danenhower'll see.
Words in this poem
- budge a.
- Brisk; stirring; jocund. South. [See Budge, v.]
- fleeced a.
- Furnished with a fleece; as, a sheep is well fleeced.
- prosecutor n.
- One who prosecutes or carries on any purpose, plan, or business. [Cf. L.prosecutor an attendant.]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Visions of Sin 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, Visions of Sin, in Shapes of Clay (1903), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #12658, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/bierce-shapes-of-clay/visions-of-sin.html, id L27986.
Form and metre
Visions of Sin is 30 lines in 4 stanzas. The rhyme scheme is AABB, complete in 2 of its 4 stanzas. The metre is trochaic tetrameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 91%).
See other poems in trochaic 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 nightA · sightA · freeB · seeB
- 2 AABBCCDDEEFFGG- arrivesA · livesA · judgeB · budgeB · fleecedC · greasedC · fightD · nightD · sideE · divideE · teachF · preachF · fireG · hireG · wife
- 3 -AABBCC life · doorA · moreA · reelB · stealB · childC · wildeC
- 4 AABB nightA · sightA · freeB · seeB
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 trochaic tetrameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| From the regions of the Night, | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Coming with recovered sight-- | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| From the spell of darkness free, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| What will Danenhower see? | 7 | ······· |
| He will see when he arrives, | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Doctors taking human lives. | 7 | /˘/˘/˘· |
| He will see a learned judge | 7 | ·····˘· |
| Whose decision will not budge | 7 | ·˘/˘··· |
| Till both litigants are fleeced | 7 | ··/˘˘·· |
| And his palm is duly greased. | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Lawyers he will see who fight | 7 | /˘····· |
| Day by day and night by night; | 7 | ······· |
| Never both upon a side, | 7 | /˘····· |
| Though their fees they still divide. | 7 | ·····˘/ |
| Preachers he will see who teach | 7 | /˘····· |
| That it is divine to preach-- | 7 | ···˘/·· |
| That they fan a sacred fire | 8 | ····/˘/˘ |
| And are worthy of their hire. | 8 | ··/˘··/˘ |
| He will see a trusted wife | 7 | ····/˘· |
| (Pride of some good husband's life) | 7 | ····/˘· |
| Enter at a certain door | 7 | /˘··/˘· |
| And--but he will see no more. | 7 | ······· |
| He will see Good Templars reel-- | 7 | ····/˘· |
| See a prosecutor steal, | 7 | ··/˘·˘· |
| And a father beat his child. | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| He'll perhaps see Oscar Wilde. | 7 | ·˘/·/˘· |
| From the regions of the Night | 7 | ··/˘··· |
| Coming with recovered sight-- | 7 | /˘·˘/˘· |
| From the bliss of blindness free, | 7 | ····/˘· |
| That's what Danenhower'll see. | 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.