# For a Revised Version explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

## What happens

The narrator humbly proposes revisions to divine law, adding positive commandments to counteract those who obey only the negative prohibitions, aiming to expose hypocritical 'negatively good' rogues and compel true virtue.

## Themes in this chapter

### Hypocrisy and Corruption

The narrator targets 'rogues Thy bidding who obey' and 'rascals negatively good'—those who follow the letter of the law but lack true virtue.

### Deception and Self-Deception

The poem critiques self-deception in those who think themselves righteous by avoiding sins, while the narrator proposes to force them into open sin or sainthood.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown

The speaker who petitions God to revise His law, adding positive commands to expose hypocrites.

## Key lines

> Wherever 'Thou shalt not' occurs I'd add 'Thou shalt the exact reverse,'

For every prohibition in the Bible, I would add a positive command to do the opposite.

_The narrator proposes to invert negative commandments into positive ones to compel action._

> Each soul (masks, too, would then be thinner) If not a saint, should be a sinner.

Every person would be forced to drop their pretense and be either genuinely virtuous or openly sinful.

_The revision aims to strip away hypocrisy and reveal true character._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters/for-a-revised-version
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters