# An Imposter explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

## What happens

The narrator excoriates Carnegie as a hypocrite and 'Great King of Cant,' wishing for a place so remote that even his empty rhetoric would be silenced.

## Themes in this chapter

### Hypocrisy and Corruption

The narrator directly accuses Carnegie of playing the 'solemn hypocrite,' equating his moral posturing with devilry.

### Deception and Self-Deception

Carnegie's self-justification is portrayed as a form of deception, blurring distinctions between right and wrong.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown

The narrator delivers a bitter invective against Carnegie.

## Key lines

> Must you, Carnegie, evermore explain Your worth, and all the reasons give again Why black and red are similarly white And you and God identically right?

Carnegie constantly defends his actions, twisting morality to make himself appear infallible.

_The narrator mocks Carnegie's relentless self-justification and moral equivalence._

> Great King of Cant! if Nature had but made Your mouth without a tongue I ne'er had prayed To have an earless head.

If Carnegie were born mute, the narrator would not wish to be deaf; but since he speaks, the narrator longs for silence.

_A hyperbolic wish to escape Carnegie's hypocritical speech._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters/an-imposter
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters