# Llewellyn Powell explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

## What happens

A poetic condemnation of a villain named Llewellyn Powell, warning that even if he escapes earthly punishment and is sainted, Nemesis will pursue him everywhere—in nature, in storms, in the stars, and in the dead man's eyes—and that his guilt will condemn him to a living death haunted by furies.

## Themes in this chapter

### Justice and Revenge

The poem describes Nemesis as an inescapable force that hunts the villain, and the speaker condemns his soul to a living death haunted by furies.

### Hypocrisy and Corruption

The villain might be enrolled as a saint despite being a master of assassination, suggesting a corrupt or hypocritical system of judgment.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown

The speaker who condemns Llewellyn Powell and pronounces his doom.

## Key lines

> When the devils, dancing madly / In the midmost Hell, are very / Multitudinously merry⁠— / Then beware, beware, beware! / Nemesis is everywhere!

Even when Hell celebrates, the avenger Nemesis is always present and watching.

_Highlights the theme of inescapable justice._

> By the mercy you denied, / I condemn your guilty soul / In your body to abide, / Like a serpent in a hole!

Because you showed no mercy, your soul is trapped in your body like a snake in a pit.

_Final curse sealing the villain's fate of living torment._

## Links

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