A Sonnet of the Civil War Vintage Colorado Poetry Poem of the Week January 16, 2006

"Sonnet Buster"

A sonnet, Italian or English, has 14 lines. Each of these lines has 10 syllables with 5 unstressed and 5 stressed syllables in fixed unstressed- stressed flow, called iambic pentameter. In the 14th line, Ambrose Bierce adds an extra syllable for a stronger image.

Ambrose Bierce knew the rules of the sonnet, and he broke them.

In "Lead," he uses the Italian sonnet rhyme pattern for lines 1-8: abba abba; however, he turns to the English sonnet rhyme pattern for lines 9-14: cdcd ee.

Considered a "misanthrope" by many acquaintances, critics and readers, Ambrose Bierce is most remembered for his Civil War stories, "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" & "Chickamauga." At best, Bierce took a sad view of humankind.

Lead Hail, holy Lead!---of human feuds the great            And universal arbiter; endowed                           With penetration to pierce any cloud                 Fogging the field of controversial hate,                And with a swift, inevitable, straight,                      Searching precision find the unavowed     But vital point. Thy judgment, when allowed By the chirurgeon, settles the debate. O useful metal!---were it not for thee     We'd grapple one another's ears alway: But when we hear thee buzzing like a bee      We, like old Muhlenberg, "care not to stay." And when the quick have run away like pullets Jack Satan smelts the dead to make new bullets.                     Ambrose Bierce                               from                   The Devil's Dictionary                                      (1911)

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