# XIII: Loring Pickering explained — Poetry

> Chapter companion for Poetry by Ambrose Bierce.

## What happens

A satirical epitaph for Loring Pickering, portraying him as a writer devoid of true inspiration, feeling, and sense, who valued mere words over ideas and died rather than be revived by divine influence.

## Themes in this chapter

### Art and Criticism

The epitaph criticizes Pickering's lack of true artistic inspiration and his reliance on empty words.

### Deception and Self-Deception

Pickering is portrayed as self-deceived, proud of his words while being blind to his own lack of substance.

## Character check-ins

### Loring Pickering

Subject of the epitaph, depicted as a writer lacking feeling, sense, and original ideas.

## Key lines

> Here rests a writer, great but not immense, Born destitute of feeling and of sense.

This writer is buried here; he was notable but not truly great, lacking both emotion and intelligence from birth.

_Opens the epitaph with a damning assessment of Pickering's innate deficiencies._

> Ideas unto him were all unknown, Proud of the words which, only, were his own.

He had no original ideas, yet he was proud of the words he wrote, which were merely his own arrangement.

_Highlights the critique of Pickering's lack of originality and his vanity._

> A fever Heaven to quicken him applied, But rather than revive, the sluggard died.

Heaven sent a fever to stir him into life, but instead of being revived, the lazy man died.

_Concludes with a metaphor for divine inspiration being rejected, leading to his demise._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters/xiii-loring-pickering
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/poetry_se/chapters