# A Fair Division explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

## What happens

A satirical poem criticizing Irish land inequality, suggesting that the division between landlords and tenants is 'fair' only in that tenants possess all the anger while landlords possess all the land.

## Themes in this chapter

### Political Satire

The poem uses biting irony to critique the imbalance of power and land ownership in Ireland.

### Justice and Revenge

Questions the morality of violent redress for land grievances, contrasting tenant ire with landlord land.

## Key lines

> Another Irish landlord gone to grass, Slain by the bullets of the tenant class!

Another Irish landlord has been killed, shot dead by his tenants.

_Opens with a stark image of agrarian murder._

> Between you and the squires All Ireland’s parted with an even hand⁠— For you have all the ire, they all the land.

Ireland is divided fairly between tenants and landlords: the tenants have all the anger, the landlords all the land.

_Closes with a sarcastic summary of the unequal division._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters/a-fair-division
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters