{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/technology",
 "title": "Technology",
 "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": 47,
 "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": 44,
  "n_stanzas": 11,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 46,
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 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "’Twas a serious person with locks of gray",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And a figure like a crescent;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "His gravity, clearly, had come to stay,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "But his smile was evanescent.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He stood and conversed with a neighbor and",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With (likewise) a high falsetto;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And he stabbed his forefinger into his hand",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As if it had been a stiletto.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "His words, like the notes of a tenor drum,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Came out of his head unblended,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "And the wonderful altitude of some",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Was exceptionally splendid.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "While executing a shake of the head,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "With the hand, as it were, of a master,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "This agonizing old gentleman said:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“ ’Twas a truly sad disaster!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Four hundred and ten longs and shorts in all,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Went down”⁠—he paused and snuffled.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "A single tear was observed to fall,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And the old man’s drum was muffled.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“A very calamitous year,” he said,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And again his head-piece hoary",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "He shook, and another pearl he shed,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As if he wept con amore.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“O lachrymose person,” I cried, “pray why",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Should these failures so affect you?",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "With speculators in stocks no eye",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "That’s normal would ever connect you.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "He focused his orbs upon mine and smiled",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In a sinister sort of manner.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "“Young man,” he said, “your words are wild:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "I spoke of the steamship Hanner.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“For she has went down in a howlin’ squall,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And my heart is nigh to breakin’⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Four hundred and ten longs and shorts in all",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Will never need undertakin’!",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“I’m in the business myself,” said he,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“And you’ve mistook my expression;",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "For I uses the technical terms, you see,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Employed in my perfession.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "That old undertaker has joined the throng",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On the other side of the River,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "But I’m still unhappy to think I’m a “long,”",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And a tape-line makes me shiver.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}