Ambrose Bierce

Born: 1842, January 24th in Horse Cave Creek, Meigs

County, Ohio. He was the 10th of 13 children in a very poor family.

Death: Unknown – Last correspondence dated December 26, 1913 in Texas

1861: Bierce enlisted in the Ninth Indiana Infantry for the Civil War. He was a soldier for the entire duration of the war until resigning in 1865 after receiving a bullet wound to the head.

As a soldier, the war and the experience influenced many of his works. Bierce’s short story “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge” was written with the setting of the war, the mood, and the people of the war in mind.

23rd Ohio Volunteer Infantry Color Guard

North

Wore blueReferred to as

Yanks or YanksReferred to as

FederalWere for the Union

South

Wore grayReferred to as

ConfederatesReferred to as

secessionistsWere for the

Confederacy

The story is set during the Civil War, focusing on the civilian, Peyton Farquhar, who has a strong desire to serve as a Confederate soldier, but cannot. Farquhar is waiting to be hung.

The story was written in three sections:

Section 1: Reader is introduced to Peyton’s present situation and his mindset.

Section 2: Peyton’s background and how he came to the misfortune of having a noose around his neck on Owl Creek Bridge.

Section 3: What goes on in Peyton’s mind.

Point of View – the narrative perspective from which it is told.

1st person – the narrator is the character in the work who describes events and uses I, me, and my.

3rd person – events are related by a voice outside the action and uses words like he, she, and they

Omniscient – aware of all characters’ thoughts

Limited – focuses on one character’s thoughts

Ambrose Bierce’s “An Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge” uses descriptive and poetic language as a device in many ways throughout the story; foreshadowing, character portrayal, identifying between fantasy and reality and to evoke a mood.

Ambrose Bierce’s story takes the reader on an incredible journey with the hero.

Your assignment after reading this short story:

Identify eight instances in which Bierce uses descriptive or poetic language throughout this literary work.

Words used in such a way that allow the reader to precisely picture the details the author/poetic has written.

An Example:The stench in the

cold, unlit cellar was suffocating, and, off in the cobweb filled corner, she sensed the presence of Death.

1. This assignment can be handwritten or typed and is due on Wednesday, January 25th at the beginning of class.

2. Number your paper 1-8.

3. Correctly quote and cite 8 lines from the text.

4. Quotes can come only from

Section III.

“A man stood upon a railroad bridge in northern Alabama, looking down in the swift water twenty feet below” (581).

This assignment is worth 24 points:

Each quote is worth three points:* Taken from the appropriate section of the text;* Properly quoted;* Proper MLA Citation.