{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/homo-podunkensis",
 "title": "Homo Podunkensis",
 "ordinal": null,
 "subtitle": null,
 "poet": "Ambrose Bierce",
 "poet_slug": "ambrose-bierce",
 "language": "en",
 "book": "Shapes of Clay",
 "book_slug": "shapes-of-clay",
 "book_kind": "volume",
 "sequence": 205,
 "container": "Shapes of Clay",
 "epigraph": null,
 "first_published": {
  "year": 1903,
  "venue": "Shapes of Clay (1903)",
  "note": "First located printing is this volume; an earlier periodical printing has not been established.",
  "uncertain": false,
  "sources": [
   "https://archive.org/details/shapesofclay00bier"
  ]
 },
 "source": {
  "kind": "standard-ebooks",
  "repo": "standardebooks/ambrose-bierce_poetry",
  "file": "shapes-of-clay.xhtml",
  "upstream": [
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4793",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12658",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12977",
   "https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/15599",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof04bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof05bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/collectedworksof08bierrich",
   "https://archive.org/details/shapesofclay00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/blackbeetlesinam00bier",
   "https://archive.org/details/literarycalifor05mighgoog",
   "https://archive.org/details/cali07webb"
  ],
  "rights": "public domain (SE dedication; underlying text pre-1931)"
 },
 "verification": {
  "level": "structural-only",
  "last_checked": "2026-08-20"
 },
 "stats": {
  "n_lines": 20,
  "n_stanzas": 1,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 48,
  "max_indent": 0
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "As the poor ass that from his paddock strays",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Might sound abroad his field-companions’ praise,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Recounting volubly their well-bred leer,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Their port impressive and their wealth of ear,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Mistaking for the world’s assent the clang",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of echoes mocking his accurst harangue;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "So the dull clown, untraveled though at large,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Visits the city on the ocean’s marge,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Expands his eyes and marvels to remark",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Each coastwise schooner and each alien bark;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Prates of “all nations,” wonders as he stares",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That native merchants sell imported wares,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Nor comprehends how in his very view",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "A foreign vessel has a foreign crew;",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Yet, faithful to the hamlet of his birth,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Swears it superior to aught on earth,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Sighs for the temples locally renowned⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The village school-house and the village pound⁠—",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And chalks upon the palaces of Rome",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "The peasant sentiments of “Home, Sweet Home!”",
    "indent": 0
   }
  ]
 ]
}