Poetry · Chapter
The Night of Election explained
On election night, a patriotic figure is offered an overcoat by a stranger who urges him to stay and observe the results.
What happens
On election night, a patriotic figure is offered an overcoat by a stranger who urges him to stay and observe the results. The patriot accepts, revealing he cannot vote but has bet his coat on a candidate.
Themes in this chapter
Political Satire
The poem satirizes the electoral process, showing a disenfranchised convict participating vicariously through a bet.
Hypocrisy and Corruption
The patriot's inability to vote highlights systemic corruption and the hypocrisy of a system that excludes certain citizens.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“O venerable patriot, I pray Stand not here coatless; at the break of day We’ll know the grand result—and even now The eastern sky is faintly touched with gray.”
The speaker urges an elderly patriot not to stand without a coat, assuring him that by dawn the election outcome will be known.
Opening lines establishing the setting and the speaker's concern.
“It ill befits thine age’s hoary crown— This rude environment of rogue and clown, Who, as the lying bulletins appear, With drunken cries incarnadine the town.”
The speaker remarks that the patriot's dignified age is out of place among the rowdy, drunken crowd reacting to false election reports.
Critique of the chaotic and dishonest election night atmosphere.
“But if with noble zeal you stay to note The outcome of your patriotic vote For Blaine, or Cleveland, and your native land, Take—and God bless you!—take my overcoat.”
If the patriot insists on staying to see the result of his vote for Blaine or Cleveland, the speaker offers him his overcoat.
The speaker's offer of the coat, linking patriotism to the act of voting.
“Done, pard—it’s mighty white of you. And now I guess the country’ll keep the trail somehow. I ain’t allowed to vote, the Warden said, But whacked my coat up on old Stanislow.”
The patriot accepts the coat, thanking the speaker, and reveals he cannot vote because the warden forbade it, but he has bet his coat on 'old Stanislow.'
Twist revealing the patriot is a convict, disenfranchised, and his 'vote' is a wager.