Named source · 1890

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Quotes by Ambrose Bierce: Context & Meanings

1 quotation linked to An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge by or associated with Ambrose Bierce, with source notes, explanations and related topics.

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Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be received with formal manifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him.

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“Death is a dignitary who when he comes announced is to be received with formal manifestations of respect, even by those most familiar with him.”

Ambrose Bierce

Meaning & context

Bierce’s narrator describes the rigid military ceremony around an execution, using formal language to make the scene feel colder and more unsettling.

Source details

“An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” represented by Project Gutenberg #375. The sentence is narrator commentary immediately before Peyton Farquhar’s execution; it belongs to Civil War fiction and does not endorse the killing.

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