Bierceโs poetry contains similar themes as much of his other work. His bitter cynicism on human nature is exemplified in โMontefiore,โ โIncurable,โ and โThe Man Born Blind.โ Echoes of the American Civil War, in which Bierce fought for the Union, appear in works such as โAt a โNational Encampment,โโโ โThe Death of Grant,โ and โThe Hesitating Veteran.โ Religion is not spared, and he addresses it in โThe Lordโs Prayer on a Coin,โ โReligion,โ and โTheosophistry.โ He even wrote several short satirical dramas in verse, addressing, among other topics, Prohibition (โMetempsychosisโ), the railroads (โThe Birth of the Railโ), and Chinese expulsion in California (โโโPeaceful Expulsionโโโ). His poems such as โA Vision of Doom,โ โAvalon,โ โThe Passing Show,โ and โInvocationโ (one of his most well-known poems) capture his metaphysical outlook and pessimism. He even pens a fine elegy to his cat in โIn Memoriam.โ
This comprehensive collection contains much of Bierceโs poetical work from multiple sources: his early poems and epigrams published in The Fiendโs Delight under his pseudonym โDod Grileโ; his poetry collections Shapes of Clay and Black Beetles in Amber, as edited and revised by him in his Collected Works; his various โante-mortemโ epitaphs on individuals who had not yet died (โOn Stoneโ); his collection of hundreds of epigrams, also published in his Collected Works; and several uncollected poems, published in various newspapers.
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