19.08.2013 Views

THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY Ambrose Bierce - Sunny Hills High School

THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY Ambrose Bierce - Sunny Hills High School

THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY Ambrose Bierce - Sunny Hills High School

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

<strong>Ambrose</strong> <strong>Bierce</strong> The Devil’s Dictionary<br />

LYRE, n. An ancient instrument of torture. The word is now used in a<br />

figurative sense to denote the poetic faculty, as in the following<br />

fiery lines of our great poet, Ella Wheeler Wilcox:<br />

I sit astride Parnassus with my lyre,<br />

And pick with care the disobedient wire.<br />

That stupid shepherd lolling on his crook<br />

With deaf attention scarcely deigns to look.<br />

I bide my time, and it shall come at length,<br />

When, with a Titan's energy and strength,<br />

I'll grab a fistful of the strings, and O,<br />

The word shall suffer when I let them go!<br />

Farquharson Harris<br />

M<br />

Page | 206

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!