He unclosed his eyes and saw again the water below him. The sergeant stepped aside. It then appeared in Bierce's 1891 collection Tales of Soldiers and Civilians. They were in silhouette against the blue sky. Then all at once, with terrible suddenness, the light about him shot upward with the noise of a loud splash; a frightful roaring was in his ears, and all was cold and dark. Encompassed in a luminous cloud, of which he was now merely the fiery heart, without material substance, he swung through unthinkable arcs of oscillation, like a vast pendulum. "I was there a month ago," he replied. God help me, I cannot dodge them all!". LitCharts Teacher Editions. They hurt his ear like the thrust of a knife; he feared he would shriek. Farquhar asked. No fields bordered it, no dwelling anywhere. The cord fell away; his arms parted and floated upward, the hands dimly seen on each side in the growing light. ", "Suppose a man--a civilian and student of hanging--should elude the picket post and perhaps get the better of the sentinel," said Farquhar, smiling, "what could he accomplish? The water, the banks, the forests, the now distant bridge, fort and men--all were commingled and blurred. His face had not been covered nor his eyes bandaged. Read the next short story; An Unfinished Race. Mrs. Farquhar was only too happy to serve him with her own white hands. He was a civilian, if one might judge from his habit, which was that of a planter. Aim! “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” is divided into three sections. The end upon which the civilian stood almost, but not quite, reached a fourth. Return to the Ambrose Bierce Home Page, or . It was attached to a stout cross-timber above his head and the slack fell to the level of his knees. . The sound of a clear, high voice in a monotonous singsong now rang out behind him and came across the water with a distinctness that pierced and subdued all other sounds, even the beating of the ripples in his ears. From this state he was awakened--ages later, it seemed to him--by the pain of a sharp pressure upon his throat, followed by a sense of suffocation. Our, LitCharts makes it easy to find quotes by Peyton Farquhar and Farquhar’s Wife. He awaited each stroke with impatience and--he knew not why--apprehension. It looked like diamonds, rubies, emeralds; he could think of nothing beautiful which it did not resemble. Get ready to write your paper on "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge". I must keep my eye upon the gun; the smoke will apprise me--the report arrives too late; it lags behind the missile. Circumstances of an imperious nature, which it is unnecessary to relate here, had prevented him from taking service with the gallant army that had fought the disastrous campaigns ending with the fall of Corinth, and he chafed under the inglorious restraint, longing for the release of his energies, the larger life of the soldier, the opportunity for distinction. It is as easy to dodge a volley as a single shot. The man's hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a cord. A piece of dancing driftwood caught his attention and his eyes followed it down the current. While she was fetching the water her husband approached the dusty horseman and inquired eagerly for news from the front. The black bodies of the trees formed a straight wall on both sides, terminating on the horizon in a point, like a diagram in a lesson in perspective. Quotes. . "The Yanks are repairing the railroads," said the man, "and are getting ready for another advance. Doubtless, despite his suffering, he had fallen asleep while walking, for now he sees another scene--perhaps he has merely recovered from a delirium. A strange, roseate light shone through the spaces among their trunks and the wind made in their branches the music of olian harps. As he shook his head free from the commotion of the smitten water he heard the deflected shot humming through the air ahead, and in an instant it was cracking and smashing the branches in the forest beyond. The soldiers had almost finished reloading; the metal ramrods flashed all at once in the sunshine as they were drawn from the barrels, turned in the air, and thrust into their sockets. Excepting the group of four at the center of the bridge, not a man moved. That story is a great introduction to the short story writer's trick of the surprise or "twist" ending. Overhead, as he looked up through this rift in the wood, shone great garden stars looking unfamiliar and grouped in strange constellations. The man's hands were behind his back, the wrists bound with a cord. He wondered what it was, and whether immeasurably distant or near by--it seemed both. Teach your students to analyze literature like LitCharts does. How slowly it appeared to move! His eyes felt congested; he could no longer close them. Peyton Farquhar was dead; his body, with a broken neck, swung gently from side to side beneath the timbers of the Owl Creek bridge. As Peyton Farquhar fell straight downward through the bridge he lost consciousness and was as one already dead. "If I could free my hands," he thought, "I might throw off the noose and spring into the stream. The captain stood with folded arms, silent, observing the work of his subordinates, but making no sign. Detailed explanations, analysis, and citation info for every important quote on LitCharts. He had not known that he lived in so wild a region. Although no soldier, he had frequented camps enough to know the dread significance of that deliberate, drawling, aspirated chant; the lieutenant on shore was taking a part in the morning's work. "To be hanged and drowned," he thought? A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feet below. He sprang to his feet, rushed up the sloping bank, and plunged into the forest. See a complete list of the characters in They were, indeed, preternaturally keen and alert. An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Quotes A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down into the swift water twenty feet below. He closed his eyes in order to fix his last thought upon his wife and children. . A rope closely encircled his neck. He was not conscious of an effort, but a sharp pain in his wrist apprised him that he was trying to free his hands. SparkNotes is brought to you by Barnes & Noble. . The liberal military code makes provision for hanging many kinds of persons, and gentlemen are not excluded. Shoulder arms! . Quotes from Ambrose Bierce's An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge. Use up and down arrows to review and enter to select. Its recurrence was regular, but as slow as the tolling of a death knell. By using our site, you acknowledge that you have read and understand our. He must have traveled the entire night. Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be received with formal manifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him. Being a slave owner and like other slave owners a politician, he was naturally an original secessionist and ardently devoted to the Southern cause. That is a good gun.". Keen, poignant agonies seemed to shoot from his neck downward through every fiber of his body and limbs. A lieutenant stood at the right of the line, the point of his sword upon the ground, his left hand resting upon his right. Read a plot overview or analysis of the story. "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" with these useful links.

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