Analysis of A Nightmare

Ambrose Bierce 1842 (Meigs County) – 1914 (Chihuahua)



I dreamed that I was dead. The years went by:
The world forgot that such a man as I
Had ever lived and written: other names
Were hailed with homage, in their turn to die.

Out of my grave a giant beech upgrew.
Its roots transpierced my body, through and through,
My substance fed its growth. From many lands
Men came in troops that giant tree to view.

'T was sacred to my memory and fame
My monument. But Allen Forman came,
Filled with the fervor of a new untruth,
And carved upon the trunk his odious name!


Scheme AAXA BBXX CCXC
Poetic Form
Metre 1111110111 0101110111 1101010101 0111001111 111101011 111110101 1101111101 1101110111 11101110001 110011011 1101010101 01010111001
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 503
Words 100
Sentences 8
Stanzas 3
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4
Lines Amount 12
Letters per line (avg) 33
Words per line (avg) 8
Letters per stanza (avg) 131
Words per stanza (avg) 33
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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

30 sec read
79

Ambrose Bierce

Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce was an American editorialist, journalist, short story writer, fabulist, and satirist. more…

All Ambrose Bierce poems | Ambrose Bierce Books

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