{
 "id": "ambrose-bierce/the-hermit",
 "title": "The Hermit",
 "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": 184,
 "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": 32,
  "n_stanzas": 8,
  "n_parts": 0,
  "longest_line_chars": 40,
  "max_indent": 1
 },
 "site_ready": true,
 "parts": [],
 "stanzas": [
  [
   {
    "text": "To a hunter from the city,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Overtaken by the night,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Spake, in tones of tender pity",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "For himself, an aged wight:",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“I have found the world a fountain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Of deceit and Life a sham.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "I have taken to the mountain",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "And a Holy Hermit am.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Sternly bent on Contemplation,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Far apart from human kind⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "In the hill my habitation,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "In the Infinite my mind.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Ten long years I’ve lived a dumb thing,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Growing bald and bent with dole,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Vainly seeking for a Something",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "To engage my gloomy soul.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Gentle Pilgrim, while my roots you",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Eat, and quaff my simple drink,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Please suggest whatever suits you",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "As a Theme for me to Think.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "Then the hunter answered gravely:",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "“From distraction free, and strife,",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "You could ponder very bravely",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "On the Vanity of Life.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“O, thou wise and learned Teacher,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "You have solved the Problem well⁠—",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "You have saved a grateful creature",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "From the agonies of Hell.",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ],
  [
   {
    "text": "“Take another root, another",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Cup of water: eat and drink.",
    "indent": 1
   },
   {
    "text": "Now I have a Subject, brother,",
    "indent": 0
   },
   {
    "text": "Tell me what, and how, to think.”",
    "indent": 1
   }
  ]
 ]
}