# Exoneration explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

## What happens

A brief poetic reflection on how men who do not conspire during candidacy can be exonerated by their friends, with their unused teeth and nails displayed as relics of their restraint.

## Themes in this chapter

### Hypocrisy and Corruption

The poem satirizes political candidacy and the suspicion of connivance, suggesting that even innocence is treated as a curiosity.

## Key lines

> When men at candidacy don’t connive, From that suspicion if their friends would free ’em, The teeth and nails with which they do not strive Should be exhibited in a museum.

If a candidate refrains from scheming and his friends want to clear him of suspicion, the claws and fangs he never used should be put on display.

_The narrator uses a satirical metaphor to comment on the rarity of political integrity._

## Links

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