As in all Bierce's work, his poetry is witty, caustic and ironic. Some of the poems included are: Novum Organum "In Bacon see the culminating prime, / Of Anglo-Saxon intellect and crime;" For a Certain Critic "Let lowly themes engage my humble pen -- Stupidities of critics, not of men;" and Consolation "Little's the good to sit and grieve, / Because the serpent tempted Eve. / Better to wipe your eyes and take a club and go out and kill a snake."